CVE-2002-0367: Microsoft Windows Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Actively exploited. At least one CVE in this advisory is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — exploitation has been observed in the wild. Treat remediation as urgent.
smss.exe debugging subsystem in Microsoft Windows does not properly authenticate programs that connect to other programs, which allows local users to gain administrator or SYSTEM privileges.
CSIRTS triage
- What
- A vulnerability in the smss.exe debugging subsystem allows local users to gain elevated privileges.
- Who is affected
- Local users on Microsoft Windows are affected.
- Urgency
- Remediation is critical due to the high severity and active exploitation.
- Action
- Apply the latest security updates for Microsoft Windows.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Details
Original advisory: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2002-0367
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Exploitation confirmedCVE-2002-0367Already exploited in the wild (CISA KEV) — the prediction phase is over. Patch now. Riskier than 91% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2002-0367 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
Recent advisories for Microsoft Windows Privilege
A cluster of recent advisories against the same product widens the attack surface — attackers routinely chain freshly published CVEs on one product, so review these together.
- criticalexploitedCVE-2026-21533: Microsoft Windows Improper Privilege Management Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2026-02-10
- criticalexploitedCVE-2021-43226: Microsoft Windows Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2025-10-06
- criticalexploitedCVE-2024-49039: Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2024-11-12
- criticalexploitedCVE-2024-38014: Microsoft Windows Installer Improper Privilege Management Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2024-09-10
- criticalexploitedCVE-2024-38107: Microsoft Windows Power Dependency Coordinator Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2024-08-13
- criticalexploitedCVE-2024-38106: Microsoft Windows Kernel Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2024-08-13
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