Microsoft DWM Core Library Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

What it is

Microsoft DWM Core Library contains a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows an attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges.

Known to be used in ransomware campaigns.Active threat actors have chained this vulnerability into ransomware operations — treat patching as a same-week priority, not a "next maintenance window" task. The coping action is the same one below; the urgency is higher.

Who's affected

Affects anyone running Microsoft DWM Core Library. Microsoft products in a small practice typically sit close to credentials, email, or document workflows — treat the patch as in-scope.

What to do

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

CISA action deadline: June 4, 2024. Federal agencies must complete the required action by this date. For private SMBs the deadline is advisory — but treat it as a strong recommendation, especially if you handle regulated data (HIPAA, GLBA, ABA model rules).

If you don't have someone in-house to verify the patch deployed across every endpoint — or you're not sure whether you're affected — that's exactly the kind of triage we do. Book a free 20-minute triage call.

Source

Pulled daily from the public cisagov/kev-data mirror (CC0). View the original entry on cisa.gov. CISA KEV is US-Government public-domain data; we add the SMB-vertical framing and the coping action above.

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