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CVE-2022-41040

CVE-2022-41040 — Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Published Updated Sources: NVD, Microsoft (CNA), CISA, FIRST EPSS, GitHub, Microsoft MSRC, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Confirmed

CISA KEV, listed Sep 30, 2022

EPSS

100%

top of FIRST's scoreset

Affects

Microsoft

10 products listed

CVSS base

8.8

high · 2 sources

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

Active

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

No

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Apply Microsoft security update KB5019758 (2022-Sep release) — https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=124eeb2b-4066-459e-9416-ee98683f4997.

CISA required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Federal deadline Oct 21, 2022 — passed 1,442 days ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

  • Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
  • Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present.
  • Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatus
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 2315.00.0 to < 15.00.1497.044Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 2215.0.0 to < 15.01.2375.037Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 1115.02.0 to < 15.02.0986.036Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 1215.02.0 to < 15.02.1118.020Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 2315.01.0 to < 15.01.2507.016Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23—Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 22—Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 11—Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 12—Vulnerable
MicrosoftMicrosoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 23—Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

High

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Scope

Unchanged

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

Low

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactSource
8.8CVSS 3.1high2.85.9Microsoft (CNA)
8.8CVSS 3.1high——Microsoft (CNA), Microsoft

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-918 · Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

  • Read Application Data
  • Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands::

Weakness & attack patterns

  • CWE-918Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

Inferred from the weakness class — not observed against this CVE.

CAPEC-664 · Server Side Request Forgery

CISA KEV details

CISA lists a CVE here once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

Listed

Sep 30, 2022

Federal deadline

Oct 21, 2022

passed 1,442 days ago

Ransomware use

Known

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a date to argue against.

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

54

2 of the 5 sampled are weaponized

Exploit entries

24

Exploit-DB and CTI exploit indexes

Malware

Families a CTI source ties to this CVE. One named, with the total it tracks.

Families tracked

2

Named

OSX_OCEANLOTUS.D

Backdoor.Oldrea, Backdoor.MacOS.OCEANLOTUS.F, osx.oceanlotus

Social mentions

Posts naming this CVE. Attention, not evidence of exploitation — it spikes on disclosure and decays whether or not anything is exploited.

Detection rules

Sigma and YARA rules a source published for this CVE — the only detection content any connected source supplies.

SOCRadar

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23, Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 22, Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 11, Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 12, Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 23.
  • Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 78 public PoC repositories were reported.
web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPScloud metadata access logsegress proxy logs

Groups associated with this CVE

Groups reported in connection with this vulnerability. A reported association, not a confirmed observation of that group using it — and not scoped to any sector or campaign.

Lazarus GroupAPT-C-36TeamTNTKinsingRoaming Mantis
SOCRadar9 more threat groups on this CVEShowing 5 of 14 · Attribution, campaigns and the malware each one runsUnlock free
  • hash453257c3494addafb39cb6815862403e827947a1e7737eb8168cd10522465deb97

    Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) · Dec 19, 2023

  • hashc59f3c8d61d940b56436c14bc148c1fe98862921b8f7bad97fbc96b31d71193c97

    AlienVault OTX Feeds · Jun 6, 2025

  • hash7a42f96599df8090cf89d6e3ce4316d24c6c00e499c8557a2e09d61c00c1198683

    Kaspersky Public Requests · Dec 19, 2023

  • hashb86f648484364d6dbd0f42b526d4f25814ff00e783

    Kaspersky Public Requests · Jan 15, 2024

  • hash4412f230da1a3954d5065395b512ff4983

    Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) · Jan 15, 2024

SOCRadar5 more indicators on this CVEShowing 5 of 10 · Hashes, addresses and domains from a live threat exchangeUnlock free

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

  1. 2026
  2. Added · CVSS 3.1 8.8 (AV:N)

    Jun 17, 2026 · NVD

  3. 2025
  4. Bulletin released on NIST.

    Oct 16, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI

  5. Bulletin released on NIST.

    Oct 16, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI

  6. Bulletin released on Mitre.

    Mar 11, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI

  7. Bulletin released on Mitre.

    Jan 27, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI

  8. Bulletin released on NIST.

    Jan 3, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI

  9. 2024
  10. CVE is exploited. "lions2012/Penetration_Testing_POC"

    Feb 8, 2024 · SOCRadar CTI

  11. CVE is exploited. "k0mi-tg/CVE-POC"

    Feb 2, 2024 · SOCRadar CTI

  12. 2023
  13. CVE is exploited. "Ostorlab/KEV"

    Dec 27, 2023 · SOCRadar CTI

  14. Bulletin released on NIST.

    Dec 21, 2023 · SOCRadar CTI

  15. CVE is exploited. "testanull/ProxyNotShell-PoC"

    Dec 6, 2023 · SOCRadar CTI

  16. CVE is exploited. "west-wind/Threat-Hunting-With-Splunk"

    Dec 6, 2023 · SOCRadar CTI

  17. CVE is exploited. "xuetusummer/Penetration_Testing_POC"

    Dec 6, 2023 · SOCRadar CTI

  18. 2022
  19. Initial · CVE published

    Oct 3, 2022 · NVD

  20. Added to CISA KEV catalog

    Sep 30, 2022 · CISA

Source activity

Readings a source repeats on a schedule, counted rather than listed.

  • 8×TweetsFeb 22, 2024 – Dec 31, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI
  • 7×ModifiedDec 20, 2023 – Oct 30, 2025 · SOCRadar CTI
  • 2×Github ReposFeb 7, 2024 – Nov 23, 2024 · SOCRadar CTI

References

15 on the record

Coverage

11 stories from the feeds we poll

Elsewhere on this site

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • Only the 5 indicator(s) reported for this CVE are available; no packet-level or host-forensic artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2022-41040 is Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability, a high vulnerability affecting Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23, Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 22, Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 11, Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 12, Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 23 from Microsoft. The current evidence lists it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Yes: CISA KEV signal present. Public exploit evidence is: 78 public PoC repositories reported; 2 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 8.8 describes technical severity, while EPSS 100% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.