CriticalCVE-2024-38107

Windows Power Dependency Coordinator Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (CVE-2024-38107)

Published 13.08.2024In CISA KEV since 13.08.2024Sources: pwn.watch, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org

Actively exploited

What is affected, what to do

Windows Power Dependency Coordinator Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. Update Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809 to version 10.0.17763.6189, Microsoft Windows Server 2019 to version 10.0.17763.6189, Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation) to version 10.0.17763.6189. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

Affected: Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809 lt 10.0.17763.0..10.0.17763.6189
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 lt 10.0.17763.0..10.0.17763.6189
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation) lt 10.0.17763.0..10.0.17763.6189
Microsoft Windows Server 2022 lt 10.0.20348.0..10.0.20348.2655
Microsoft Windows 11 version 21H2 lt 10.0.0..10.0.22000.3147
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2 lt 10.0.19043.0..10.0.19044.4780
Microsoft Windows 11 version 22H2 lt 10.0.22621.0..10.0.22621.4037
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 22H2 lt 10.0.19045.0..10.0.19045.4780
Microsoft Windows 11 version 22H3 lt 10.0.22631.0..10.0.22631.4037
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 23H2 lt 10.0.22631.0..10.0.22631.4037
Microsoft Windows Server 2022, 23H2 Edition (Server Core installation) lt 10.0.25398.0..10.0.25398.1085
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1507 lt 10.0.10240.0..10.0.10240.20751
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607 lt 10.0.14393.0..10.0.14393.7259
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 lt 10.0.14393.0..10.0.14393.7259
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) lt 10.0.14393.0..10.0.14393.7259
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 lt 6.2.9200.0..6.2.9200.25031
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation) lt 6.2.9200.0..6.2.9200.25031
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 lt 6.3.9600.0..6.3.9600.22134
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) lt 6.3.9600.0..6.3.9600.22134
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 24H2 lt 10.0.26100.0..10.0.26100.1457
Fixed in: Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809 10.0.17763.6189
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 10.0.17763.6189
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation) 10.0.17763.6189
Microsoft Windows Server 2022 10.0.20348.2655
Microsoft Windows 11 version 21H2 10.0.22000.3147
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2 10.0.19044.4780
Microsoft Windows 11 version 22H2 10.0.22621.4037
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 22H2 10.0.19045.4780
Microsoft Windows 11 version 22H3 10.0.22631.4037
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 23H2 10.0.22631.4037
Microsoft Windows Server 2022, 23H2 Edition (Server Core installation) 10.0.25398.1085
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1507 10.0.10240.20751
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607 10.0.14393.7259
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 10.0.14393.7259
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) 10.0.14393.7259
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 6.2.9200.25031
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation) 6.2.9200.25031
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 6.3.9600.22134
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) 6.3.9600.22134
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 24H2 10.0.26100.1457

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Metrics

7.8

Priority

XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

Source: NVD, CVSS v3

7.8

CVSS v3

Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

Source: pwn.watch, Msrc Update Guide, CVE.org

1.6 %

EPSS score

Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.

Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 76.3

Show all metrics

Severity: Critical
Priority (0–325) The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first? Read in glossary: 191.48 Methodology
Exploit maturity An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack. Read in glossary: actively exploited
XIEM Effective CVSS XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command. Read in glossary: 7.8 Methodology
CVSS v3 CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions. Read in glossary: 7.8
EPSS score The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“. Read in glossary: 1.6 %; Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking. Read in glossary: 76.3; High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
KEV status The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching. Read in glossary: Actively exploited
Published: 13.08.2024
In CISA KEV since The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching. Read in glossary: 13.08.2024
CISA assessment (SSVC): Exploitation: active · not automatable · Technical impact: total; Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 14 August 2024
CWE CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect. Read in glossary: CWE-416

Response and mitigation

Why act now?

Prioritisation rationale

This flaw needs local access with low privileges but no user interaction. Attackers use it as a second stage after gaining a foothold through phishing, infostealers or compromised user accounts, escalating to SYSTEM to tamper with EDR and harvest credentials. CISA listed it as exploited on Patch Tuesday itself. It carries no ransomware flag, and its general exploitation likelihood is only moderate. Organisations with large multi-user estates, RDS/VDI or weak application control should close it within their emergency patch window (a few days). Where least privilege and WDAC are enforced, an accelerated standard patch cycle is a defensible choice.

01
Runbook step 1
Immediate response (0-24 h)
- Deploy the August 2024 Patch Tuesday (2024-08-13) security update, or any later cumulative update. Target builds per context: Windows 10 1507 → 10.0.10240.20751, 1607 → 10.0.14393.7259, 1809 → 10.0.17763.6189, 21H2 → 10.0.19044.4780, 22H2 → 10.0.19045.4780, Windows 11 21H2 → 10.0.22000.3147, 22H2 → 10.0.22621.4037, 23H2 (22631) → 10.0.22631.4037. Look up the per-build KB number in the Microsoft Security Update Guide entry for CVE-2024-38107.
- Reconcile your estate against these builds via Intune, SCCM/MECM, WSUS or EDR inventory, for example Get-ComputerInfo | Select OsBuildNumber or a Defender TVM query for CVE-2024-38107. Also check server builds sharing the 1607/1809 codebase in the advisory.
- Patch multi-user hosts first: RDS/Citrix/VDI, jump servers, admin workstations and developer endpoints. On these hosts, local privilege escalation directly exposes other users' sessions and credentials.
- On any host with confirmed initial access (phishing payload, infostealer, webshell), assume exploitation. Isolate it via EDR and treat locally cached credentials as compromised: domain accounts that logged on, the local admin password (rotate via LAPS) and service-account secrets.
- Identify unpatchable legacy systems (Windows 10 1507/1607 outside LTSC/ESU) and schedule them for decommissioning or strict network isolation.
02
Runbook step 2
Mitigation layers
- Configuration: No workaround is available. The Power Dependency Coordinator (pdc.sys) is a core power-management component and cannot be disabled. Compensating controls must therefore focus on preventing user-level code execution in the first place.
- Endpoint hardening: Enforce application control with WDAC or AppLocker, targeting execution from %TEMP%, %APPDATA%, Downloads and user profiles. Also enable the Defender ASR rules "Block executable files unless they meet prevalence, age or trusted list criteria" and "Block process creations originating from PSExec and WMI commands".
- IAM/least privilege: Remove local admin rights and enforce Windows LAPS. Enable Credential Guard and LSA protection (RunAsPPL) so that a gained SYSTEM token does not translate directly into domain credential theft from LSASS.
- Network segmentation: Constrain lateral movement after escalation. Block SMB (445/tcp), RDP (3389/tcp), WinRM (5985/5986/tcp) and RPC (135/tcp) between client VLANs, and allow them only from dedicated admin jump hosts (tiering model).
- Multi-user systems: On RDS/VDI, block execution of non-approved binaries and avoid co-hosting sessions of users with different protection requirements.
03
Runbook step 3
Detection rules
- Sysmon EID 1 / Security 4688: a process running at System integrity whose parent runs in a standard user context. KQL: DeviceProcessEvents | where ProcessIntegrityLevel == "System" and InitiatingProcessIntegrityLevel in ("Medium","Low") and InitiatingProcessAccountSid != "S-1-5-18"
- EDR process ancestry: cmd.exe, powershell.exe or rundll32.exe running as SYSTEM, spawned from an unsigned binary in a user path (\Users\*\AppData\, \Temp\). Sigma shape: ParentImage|contains: '\Users\' AND User|contains: 'SYSTEM' AND Image|endswith: ['\cmd.exe','\powershell.exe'].
- Stability: System Event ID 1001 (BugCheck) and kernel crash dumps referencing pdc.sys can indicate failed exploit attempts. They are most meaningful when they cluster across several hosts.
- Post-escalation activity: Security 4697 / System 7045 (new service), Sysmon EID 10 targeting lsass.exe (GrantedAccess 0x1010/0x1FFFFF), Sysmon EID 6 (unsigned or vulnerable driver load, BYOVD), and Security 4720/4732 (local account created or added to Administrators).
- Defender for Endpoint / TVM: correlate devices still exposed to CVE-2024-38107 with alerts from the last 30 days. Unpatched hosts with initial-access alerts should be hunted first.

Detection rules

No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

NIS2 NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management. Read in glossary: Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
CRA The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates. Read in glossary: Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security. Read in glossary: Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

Description

Windows Power Dependency Coordinator Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Source: pwn.watch, Microsoft Security Update Guide, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog, CVE.org (MITRE)

Affected products

The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

Affected products
		Affected versions	Fixed in
Microsoft	Windows 10 Version 1507	`10.0.10240.0 – < 10.0.10240.20751`	`10.0.10240.20751`
Microsoft	Windows 10 Version 1607	`10.0.14393.0 – < 10.0.14393.7259`	`10.0.14393.7259`
Microsoft	Windows 10 Version 1809	`10.0.17763.0 – < 10.0.17763.6189`	`10.0.17763.6189`
Microsoft	Windows 10 Version 21H2	`10.0.19043.0 – < 10.0.19044.4780`	`10.0.19044.4780`
Microsoft	Windows 10 Version 22H2	`10.0.19045.0 – < 10.0.19045.4780`	`10.0.19045.4780`
Microsoft	Windows 11 version 21H2	`10.0.0 – < 10.0.22000.3147`	`10.0.22000.3147`
Microsoft	Windows 11 version 22H2	`10.0.22621.0 – < 10.0.22621.4037`	`10.0.22621.4037`
Microsoft	Windows 11 version 22H3	`10.0.22631.0 – < 10.0.22631.4037`	`10.0.22631.4037`
Microsoft	Windows 11 Version 23H2	`10.0.22631.0 – < 10.0.22631.4037`	`10.0.22631.4037`
Microsoft	Windows 11 Version 24H2	`10.0.26100.0 – < 10.0.26100.1457`	`10.0.26100.1457`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2012	`6.2.9200.0 – < 6.2.9200.25031`	`6.2.9200.25031`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)	`6.2.9200.0 – < 6.2.9200.25031`	`6.2.9200.25031`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2012 R2	`6.3.9600.0 – < 6.3.9600.22134`	`6.3.9600.22134`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)	`6.3.9600.0 – < 6.3.9600.22134`	`6.3.9600.22134`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2016	`10.0.14393.0 – < 10.0.14393.7259`	`10.0.14393.7259`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)	`10.0.14393.0 – < 10.0.14393.7259`	`10.0.14393.7259`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2019	`10.0.17763.0 – < 10.0.17763.6189`	`10.0.17763.6189`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)	`10.0.17763.0 – < 10.0.17763.6189`	`10.0.17763.6189`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2022	`10.0.20348.0 – < 10.0.20348.2655`	`10.0.20348.2655`
Microsoft	Windows Server 2022, 23H2 Edition (Server Core installation)	`10.0.25398.0 – < 10.0.25398.1085`	`10.0.25398.1085`

Vendors and products

Affected operating systems

Affected operating systems

Windows	microsoft	windows_10_1507	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_10_1607	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_10_1809	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_10_21h2	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_10_22h2	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_11_21h2	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_11_22h2	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_11_23h2	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_11_24h2	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_server_2012	`r2`
Windows	microsoft	windows_server_2012	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_server_2016	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_server_2019	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_server_2022	—
Windows	microsoft	windows_server_2022_23h2	—

Weakness classes (CWE)

CWE-416Use After Free
Variant
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Entry at MITRE CWE-416

Public exploit references

Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

Public exploit references

CISA KEV Catalog	CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.gov	actively exploited	13.08.2024

References & sources

Microsoft Security Update GuideWindows Power Dependency Coordinator Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilityVendor advisory, Patch, Vendor advisory, pwn-watch
cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2024-38107government-resource, US government resource
pwn.watchpwn.watch: Microsoft August 2024: 6 actively exploited zero-dayspwn-watch
Microsoft Security Update GuideMicrosoft advisory: CVE-2024-38106pwn-watch
Microsoft Security Update GuideMicrosoft advisory: CVE-2024-38178pwn-watch
Microsoft Security Update GuideMicrosoft advisory: CVE-2024-38189pwn-watch
Microsoft Security Update GuideMicrosoft advisory: CVE-2024-38193pwn-watch
Microsoft Security Update GuideMicrosoft advisory: CVE-2024-38213pwn-watch
NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-38106pwn-watch
NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-38107pwn-watch
NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-38178pwn-watch
NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-38189pwn-watch
NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-38193pwn-watch
NVD (NIST)NVD: CVE-2024-38213pwn-watch
cisa.govCISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalogpwn-watch

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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2024-38107"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2024-38107.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2024-38107 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>

What is affected, what to do

Metrics

Response and mitigation

Prioritisation rationale

Immediate response (0-24 h)

Mitigation layers

Detection rules

Detection rules

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Description

Affected products

Vendors and products

Affected operating systems

Weakness classes (CWE)

Public exploit references

References & sources