{"answers":{"affected":"It affects 1 product.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42297 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"No fix has been published for CVE-2021-42297 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.","what":"CVE-2021-42297 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Update Assistant, published on 24 Nov 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link."},"fix_prompt":"Check this codebase for CVE-2021-42297 and fix it if it is affected.\n\nWhat it is: CVE-2021-42297 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Update Assistant, published on 24 Nov 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.\nExploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42297 in the wild and no public exploit code.\n\nAffected product: Microsoft Windows Update Assistant. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.\n\nTask:\n1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.\n2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.\n3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.\n4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.\n5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42297/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42297/index.md)","id":"CVE-2021-42297","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42297/index.md","name":"CVE-2021-42297","record":{"aliases":["GHSA-3jrq-x5vv-pvcw"],"analysis":{"component_type":"operating_system","fix_type":"patch","impacts":["privilege_escalation"],"network_reachable":"adjacent_or_local","non_default_config":false,"product_category":"Windows Update Assistant","requires_auth":"low_privilege","summary":"An attacker can exploit a path traversal flaw in the Windows Update Assistant to escalate privileges on the system.","user_interaction":"required","vuln_class":"path_traversal"},"analysis_generated_by":"qwen3.8-flash-next","assigner":"microsoft","cpe":[{"product":"windows_10_update_assistant","vendor":"microsoft"}],"cvss":{"score":5,"severity":"medium","source":"cna","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C","version":"3.1"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-59","name":"Improper Link Resolution Before File Access"}],"description":"Windows 10 Update Assistant Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability","ecosystems":[],"exploits":{"exploitdb":0,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":0,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":0,"nuclei":0,"refs":[],"tier":"none_known"},"has_fix":null,"headline":"Windows 10 Update Assistant Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-42297","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"cve","links":{"ecosystem":null,"product":null,"products":[],"type":"path_traversal","year":"2021"},"n_packages":0,"n_references":1,"next":{"headline":"Microsoft Defender Remote Code Execution Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-42298"},"packages":[],"prev":{"headline":"Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-42296"},"products":["Windows Update Assistant"],"published":"2021-11-24","related":[{"cvss_score":7.8,"headline":"Privilege escalation in Windows Update Assistant","id":"CVE-2019-1378","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2019-10-10"},{"cvss_score":7.3,"headline":"Windows 10 Update Assistant Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-36945","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2021-08-12"},{"cvss_score":5.5,"headline":"Windows 10 Update Assistant Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-43211","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2021-11-24"}],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"CVE Terms of Use (MITRE)","name":"CVE List","prefix":"CVE"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"US public information, NVD API terms","name":"NVD"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"CWE Terms of Use","name":"CWE (MITRE)"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"FIRST CVSS licence","name":"CVSS (FIRST)"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":null,"exploitation":null,"technical_impact":null},"state":"PUBLISHED","updated":"2026-08-19","vendors":["Microsoft"]},"summary":"An attacker can exploit a path traversal flaw in the Windows Update Assistant to escalate privileges on the system.","url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42297/"}