Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2019-0880
CVE-2019-0880
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
Local elevation of privilege vulnerability in Windows splwow64.exe allows attackers to escalate from low-integrity to medium-integrity context.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A local privilege escalation flaw in the Windows print spooler component enables authenticated attackers to gain elevated system privileges. Exploitation requires local access and has been observed in active attacks.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-05-234EPSS 0.02289 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
3 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-23).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.02289 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Microsoft, Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1043 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I gain initial access to a Windows system with low-integrity privileges through a compromised user account or application sandbox.
Business
An attacker establishes a foothold on the endpoint with limited permissions, creating risk of lateral movement and data exfiltration.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft a malicious call to splwow64.exe to trigger the elevation of privilege vulnerability.
Business
The organization faces increased exposure to privilege escalation attacks that bypass standard access controls.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I successfully escalate my privileges from low-integrity to medium-integrity, gaining access to additional system resources and processes.
Business
Compromised systems can be used to deploy malware, access sensitive data, or pivot to critical infrastructure within the network.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by microsoftCNA
Credited with finding itGene Yoo of Resecurity, Inc.finder
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
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