Microsoft Windows up to Server 2022 SMB Witness Service privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
8.1$5k-$25k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Microsoft Windows. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component SMB Witness Service. The manipulation leads to an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2023-21549. The attack can be initiated remotely. There is not any exploit available. To fix this issue, it is recommended to deploy a patch.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Microsoft Windows (Operating System). This issue affects some unknown processing of the component SMB Witness Service. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to 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. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The weakness was released 01/10/2023 as confirmed security guidance (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at portal.msrc.microsoft.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2023-21549. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/19/2025). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2023-25716). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.1

VulDB Base Score: 8.8
VulDB Temp Score: 7.7
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Vendor Base Score (Microsoft): 8.8
Vendor Vector (Microsoft): 🔍

CNA Base Score: 8.8
CNA Vector (Microsoft): 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Unproven

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

12/01/2022 🔍
01/10/2023 +40 days 🔍
01/10/2023 +0 days 🔍
01/10/2023 +0 days 🔍
09/19/2025 +983 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: microsoft.com
Product: microsoft.com

Advisory: portal.msrc.microsoft.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2023-21549 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2023-21549
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-217811
EUVD: 🔍
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161215

Entryinfo

Created: 01/10/2023 21:06
Updated: 09/19/2025 14:35
Changes: 01/10/2023 21:06 (35), 01/10/2023 21:09 (19), 01/31/2023 10:57 (2), 01/31/2023 11:04 (11), 09/19/2025 14:35 (16)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Might our Artificial Intelligence support you?

Check our Alexa App!