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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2014-1812 Microsoft CVE debrief

CVE-2014-1812 is a Microsoft Windows Group Policy Preferences password privilege escalation issue that CISA has added to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The KEV entry also marks it as having known ransomware campaign use, which makes this a high-priority item for Windows environments that still rely on Group Policy Preferences. The source corpus does not provide exploit mechanics, but it does make the defensive expectation clear: apply vendor updates and confirm the vulnerable configuration is no longer present.

Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Windows
CVSS
Unknown
CISA KEV
Listed
Original CVE published
2021-11-03
Original CVE updated
2021-11-03
Advisory published
2021-11-03
Advisory updated
2021-11-03

Who should care

Windows administrators, Active Directory and Group Policy owners, endpoint security teams, vulnerability management teams, and incident responders at organizations that use Microsoft Windows Group Policy Preferences.

Technical summary

According to the supplied CISA KEV record, CVE-2014-1812 affects Microsoft Windows Group Policy Preferences and is described as a password privilege escalation vulnerability. CISA's metadata also flags known ransomware campaign use. The provided sources do not include deeper technical details or exploit steps, so the practical response is to treat this as an exposed privilege-escalation condition in Windows environments and remediate per vendor guidance.

Defensive priority

High. The vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and is marked as having known ransomware campaign use, so organizations should verify exposure and remediation status urgently.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Apply updates per vendor instructions.
  • Inventory Windows systems and Group Policy Preferences usage to identify in-scope hosts.
  • Verify that affected systems are fully patched and no longer exposed to the vulnerable condition.
  • Review privileged accounts and recent Group Policy activity for signs of unauthorized escalation.
  • Prioritize remediation in environments that face higher ransomware risk or that have not yet confirmed mitigation.

Evidence notes

Evidence is limited to official records supplied in the corpus: CISA KEV lists CVE-2014-1812 as "Microsoft Windows Group Policy Preferences Password Privilege Escalation Vulnerability," with dateAdded 2021-11-03, dueDate 2022-05-03, requiredAction "Apply updates per vendor instructions," and knownRansomwareCampaignUse "Known." The metadata also points to the official CVE record and NVD entry. No CVSS score was provided in the supplied data.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2014-1812 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-1812

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2014-1812 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-1812

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

  • CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

    Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency - Official CISA catalog of vulnerabilities known to be exploited in the wild.

Supplemental references

  • Source item URL

    Unverified legacy reference

    URL: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json

    cisa_kev

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.