CVE-2024-38202 Windows Update Stack Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

High 7.3 Published 8 Aug 2024 Updated 10 Jul 2025

An attacker with basic privileges can escalate privileges or bypass VBS by tricking an administrator into performing a system restore.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: A user has to click or open something
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2024-38202?

CVE-2024-38202 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1607, published on 8 Aug 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Summary Microsoft was notified that an elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows Update, potentially enabling an attacker with basic user privileges to reintroduce previously mitigated vulnerabilities or circumvent some features of Virtualization Based Security (VBS). However, an attacker attempting to exploit this vulnerability requires additional interaction by a privileged user to be successful. Microsoft has developed a security update to mitigate this threat which was made available October 08, 2024 and is provided in the Security Updates table of this CVE for customers to download. Note: Depending on your version of Windows, additional steps may be required to update Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to be protected from this vulnerability. Please refer to the FAQ section for more information. Guidance for customers who cannot immediately implement the update is provided in the Recommended Actions section of this CVE to help reduce the risks associated with this vulnerability and to protect their systems. If there are any further updates regarding mitigations for this vulnerability, this CVE will be updated and customers will be notified. We highly encourage customers to subscribe to Security Update Guide notifications to receive an alert if an update occurs. Details A security researcher informed Microsoft of an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Windows Update potentially enabling an attacker with basic user privileges to reintroduce previously mitigated vulnerabilities or circumvent some features of VBS. For exploitation to succeed, an attacker must trick or convince an Administrator or a user with delegated permissions into performing a system restore which inadvertently triggers the vulnerability. Microsoft has developed a security update to mitigate this threat which was made available October 08, 2024 and is provided in the Security Updates table of this CVE for customers to download. Note: Depending on your version of Windows, additional steps may be required to update Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to be protected from this vulnerability. Please refer to the FAQ section for more information. Guidance for customers who cannot immediately implement the update is provided in the Recommended Actions section of this CVE to help reduce the risks associated with this vulnerability and to protect their systems. If there are any further... See more at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2024-38202

Weakness: CWE-284

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-38202?

It affects 11 products.

Products include Microsoft Windows 10 1607, Microsoft Windows 10 1809, Microsoft Windows 10 21h2, Microsoft Windows 10 22h2, Microsoft Windows 11 21h2, Microsoft Windows 11 22h2 and 5 more.

How do I fix CVE-2024-38202?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-38202 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2024-38202 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-38202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Microsoft Windows 10 1607 vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-gw56-mg6j-26qj.