Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Microsoft · Active Directory
The flaw is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Active Directory Domain Services component of Microsoft Active Directory, caused by improper privilege management. An attacker who holds low-privileged credentials on the network can exploit it to gain elevated rights, with no user interaction required, though exploitation depends on a high-complexity attack condition.
Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- Exploited
- Yes, in CISA KEV
- Reports
- 0
- Tactics
- 1/15
How an attack unfolds
Based on MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. mappings. Select a step to see the evidence.How attackers get in
Exploitation timelineDated milestones for a CVE: when it was disclosed, when exploit code became public, when exploitation was confirmed, and when threat reports named it.
First seen exploited 5 months after disclosure. Public exploit code (PoC-in-GitHub) appeared 31 days after disclosure.
- Disclosedday 0
- Public exploit codePoC-in-GitHub+31 days
- First seen exploitedVulnCheck KEV evidenceAdded to CISA KEVknown ransomware use; EU database agrees+5 mo
CISA KEV listing is when exploitation was confirmed, not necessarily the first attack.
MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. techniques
1 TechniqueOne specific attacker behaviour in MITRE ATT&CK, such as T1190 “Exploit Public-Facing Application”. IDs with a dot, like T1059.004, are sub-techniques., grouped by TacticThe attacker’s goal at a stage of an attack in MITRE ATT&CK, such as Initial Access or Persistence. Each technique belongs to one or more tactics. in kill-chain order, 1 cited passage 1Privilege EscalationTA0004
EoP vulnerability exploited to gain higher privileges
Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Detection
3 rules for this CVE · 31 general rules for its techniquesRules for this CVE
3Sigma ruleAn open, vendor-neutral detection rule for log data. Security teams convert Sigma rules into searches for their own SIEM. that reference CVE-2021-42287 directly.General rules for this CVE’s techniques
These detect the technique in general, not this specific vulnerability.
Exploitation for Privilege EscalationT106831 general rules
- Exploiting CVE-2019-1388criticalstable
- Audit CVE Eventcriticaltest
- HackTool - SysmonEOP Executioncriticaltest
- InstallerFileTakeOver LPE CVE-2021-41379 File Create Eventcriticaltest
- Possible Coin Miner CPU Priority Paramcriticaltest
- Potential CVE-2021-41379 Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
- Potential SystemNightmare Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
- Sudo Privilege Escalation CVE-2019-14287 - Builtincriticaltest
Sigma rules © SigmaHQ, Detection Rule License 1.1; linked, not reproduced.
What security researchers reported
Not named in any threat report yetAlso mentioned in 50 community threat pulses (AlienVault OTX)
Weaker evidencePulses are indicator collections that anyone can publish. A mention is not confirmation of exploitation.
- Stray Cat, Open Doors: How k0t Wanders Through the Network Edge28 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 29, 202628 Oct 2026
- EbeeOct2026 Pt528 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 28, 202627 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 27, 202626 Oct 2026
- Stray Cat, Open Doors: How k0t Wanders Through the Network Edge23 Oct 2026
- 44 more on OTX