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High severityNVD Advisory· Published Apr 15, 2022· Updated Jan 2, 2025

PowerShell Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CVE-2022-26788

Description

PowerShell Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

PowerShell elevation of privilege vulnerability in module loading when .NET omits profile folder paths; fixed in 7.0.10, 7.1.7, 7.2.3.

Vulnerability

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in PowerShell 7 where the module loading logic fails to properly handle cases when .NET does not return a path for certain profile folders [2]. This affects PowerShell 7.0 prior to 7.0.10, 7.1 prior to 7.1.7, and 7.2 prior to 7.2.3 [2].

Exploitation

An attacker with existing access to a system running an affected version of PowerShell can trigger the vulnerable code path by causing .NET to omit the profile folder paths during module loading [2]. No additional authentication or user interaction is required beyond the ability to execute PowerShell code.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to elevate their privileges, potentially gaining SYSTEM-level access or another higher-integrity context [2]. This can lead to full compromise of the affected system.

Mitigation

Update PowerShell 7 to version 7.0.10, 7.1.7, or 7.2.3 respectively [2]. No official workaround has been published. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

References
  1. Microsoft Security Advisory CVE-2022-26788: PowerShell Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

AI Insight generated on May 21, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected packages

Versions sourced from the GitHub Security Advisory.

PackageAffected versionsPatched versions
Microsoft.PowerShell.SDKNuGet
>= 7.0.0-preview.1, < 7.0.107.0.10
Microsoft.PowerShell.SDKNuGet
>= 7.1.0-preview.1, < 7.1.77.1.7
Microsoft.PowerShell.SDKNuGet
>= 7.2.0-preview.1, < 7.2.37.2.3

Affected products

26
  • osv-coords2 versions
    pkg:bitnami/powershellpkg:nuget/microsoft.powershell.sdk
    >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.10+ 1 more
    • (no CPE)range: >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.10
    • (no CPE)range: >= 7.0.0-preview.1, < 7.0.10
  • Microsoft/PowerShell 7.0v5
    Range: 7.0.0
  • Microsoft/PowerShell 7.1v5
    Range: 7.1.0
  • Microsoft/PowerShell 7.2v5
    Range: 7.2.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 1507v5
    Range: 10.0.10240.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 1607v5
    Range: 10.0.14393.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 1809v5
    Range: 10.0.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 1909v5
    Range: 10.0.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 20H2v5
    Range: 10.0.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 21H1v5
    Range: 10.0.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 10 Version 21H2v5
    Range: 10.0.19043.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 11 version 21H2v5
    Range: 10.0.0
  • Microsoft/Windows 8.1v5
    Range: 6.3.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1v5
    Range: 6.1.7601.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)v5
    Range: 6.1.7601.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2012v5
    Range: 6.2.9200.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2012 R2v5
    Range: 6.3.9600.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)v5
    Range: 6.3.9600.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)v5
    Range: 6.2.9200.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2016v5
    Range: 10.0.14393.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)v5
    Range: 10.0.14393.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2019v5
    Range: 10.0.17763.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)v5
    Range: 10.0.17763.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server 2022v5
    Range: 10.0.20348.0
  • Microsoft/Windows Server version 20H2v5
    Range: 10.0.0

Patches

0

No patches discovered yet.

Vulnerability mechanics

AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.

References

5

News mentions

0

No linked articles in our index yet.