Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2014-1812
CVE-2014-1812
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
Microsoft Windows Active Directory privilege escalation via Group Policy Preferences password distribution. Authenticated attackers can decrypt stored passwords to elevate domain privileges.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
Authenticated attackers exploit weak password encryption in Group Policy Preferences to recover credentials and escalate privileges across Active Directory domains. The vulnerability enables lateral movement and persistent access with elevated rights.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
5 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 2021-11-03), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.64309 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-255 CWE-255 — weakness family: Authentication.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
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 authenticate to the domain as a standard user and locate Group Policy Preference files containing encrypted passwords.
Business
Insider threats and compromised user accounts become vectors for domain-wide privilege escalation.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I decrypt the stored passwords using publicly available tools that reverse the weak encryption scheme.
Business
Administrative credentials are exposed, enabling attackers to assume control of critical infrastructure.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use the recovered credentials to access higher-privileged accounts and systems across the domain.
Business
Attackers gain administrative access to deploy malware, ransomware, and establish persistence.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I move laterally through the network using elevated privileges to compromise additional systems and data.
Business
Widespread system compromise enables data exfiltration, encryption attacks, and operational disruption.
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