CVE-2024-38107 – Microsoft Windows Power Dependency Coordinator Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
What It Is – An unspecified flaw in the Windows Power Dependency Coordinator component allows a local, non‑privileged user to elevate their rights to the SYSTEM account.
Exploitability – The vulnerability is publicly disclosed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog; proof‑of‑concept code has been observed in the wild, indicating active exploitation. CVSS v3.1 base score is 8.8 (High).
Affected Products – Microsoft Windows 10, Windows Server 2016‑2022 and any Windows release that includes the Power Dependency Coordinator service.
Why It Matters for Trust & Control Assurance
- Demonstrates a gap in privileged‑account management – a core access‑control control that underpins many frameworks (e.g., NIST CSF 2.0).
- Continuous monitoring of privileged‑access events and maintaining an audit trail of elevation attempts are essential to prove due‑diligence to auditors and enterprise buyers.
- Remediation (patching, configuration hardening, and privileged‑session logging) provides tangible evidence that the organization enforces least‑privilege principles.
Recommended Actions
- Apply Microsoft’s security update for CVE‑2024‑38107 immediately across all Windows endpoints and servers.
- Verify that privileged‑access monitoring tools are capturing any elevation attempts and that alerts are routed to the security operations center.
- Review and tighten local admin group memberships; enforce “no local admin” policies where feasible.
- Document the remediation steps and retain logs as part of your continuous control‑evidence repository.
Source: CISA KEV – CVE‑2024‑38107