Microsoft Windows Print Spooler Service privileges management

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows. It has been rated as very critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component Print Spooler Service. Performing a manipulation results in an unknown weakness. This vulnerability was named CVE-2021-34481. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. It is suggested to update the configuration settings.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows (Operating System) (version unknown). It has been classified as very critical. This affects an unknown function of the component Print Spooler Service. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

<p>A remote code execution vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly performs privileged file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE</strong> August 10, 2021: Microsoft has completed the investigation and has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Please see the Security Updates table for the applicable update for your system. We recommend that you install these updates immediately. This security update changes the Point and Print default behavior; please see <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/help/5005652">KB5005652</a>.</p>

The weakness was presented 07/15/2021 as confirmed security guidance (Website). The advisory is shared at portal.msrc.microsoft.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2021-34481. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $25k-$100k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/25/2026). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

It is declared as functional.

It is possible to mitigate the problem by applying the configuration setting Stop-Service -Name Spooler -Force; Set-Service -Name Spooler -StartupType Disabled. To fix the problem, configure the system to restrict printer driver installation to administrators only. Apply the following registry setting via Powershell: reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint" /v RestrictDriverInstallationToAdministrators /t REG_DWORD /d 1

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Windows

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/
• Product: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows

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