Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls in Microsoft Windows and Windows Server - CVE-2023-21768
Published: January 10, 2023 / Updated: June 13, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU71002
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 8.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2023-21768
CWE-ID: CWE-264
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
The vulnerability is being exploited in the wild
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.
The vulnerability exists due to application does not properly impose security restrictions in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock, which leads to security restrictions bypass and privilege escalation.
Affected software
Microsoft Windows
Windows Server
Windows Server
How to mitigate CVE-2023-21768
Install updates from vendor's website.
Links to Public Exploits and PoC-codes
- Exploit #11612 - Windows_AFD_LPE_CVE-2023-21768 (Windows 11 System Permission Elevation) (June 13, 2025)
- Exploit #11055 - CVE-2023-21768 (Exploit implementation with IO Rings for CVE-2023-21768) (January 10, 2025)
- Exploit #9842 - CVE-2023-21768-dotnet (C# / .NET version of CVE-2023-21768) (May 23, 2024)
- Exploit #9611 - CVE-2023-21768 (Windows_AFD_LPE_CVE-2023-21768) (March 22, 2024)
- Exploit #9000 - CVE-2023-21768-AFD-for-WinSock-EoP-exploit () (April 22, 2023)
- Exploit #8951 - Ancillary Function Driver (AFD) for WinSock Elevation of Privilege (March 30, 2023)
- Exploit #8903 - nullmap (Using CVE-2023-21768 to manual map kernel mode driver ) (March 11, 2023)
- Exploit #8894 - Windows_LPE_AFD_CVE-2023-21768 (LPE exploit for CVE-2023-21768) (March 8, 2023)
- Exploit #8893 - Windows_LPE_AFD_CVE-2023-21768 (LPE exploit for CVE-2023-21768) (March 8, 2023)