CVE-2021-34481

HIGHNVD 8.89.8▲
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 8.8; sources differ by 1.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Elevated
8.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 45%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

A remote code execution vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly performs privileged file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. UPDATE August 10, 2021: Microsoft has completed the investigation and has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Please see the Security Updates table for the applicable update for your system. We recommend that you install these updates immediately. This security update changes the Point and Print default behavior; please see KB5005652.

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
67(Track*)
EG Risk 67/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation45% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS
98.7%
KEV
Not listed

Published

July 16, 2021

Last Modified

February 24, 2026

References (2)

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(1)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 30× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-24 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-23 02:01 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-07-22 22:48 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-20 17:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-19 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-01 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-22 14:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-22 14:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-15 17:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-14 23:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-05-26 13:25 UTCEG score recompute
  49. 2026-05-26 13:25 UTCVendor advisory
  50. 2026-05-26 13:25 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCvpn28/CVE-2021-34481
    First seen Aug 11, 2021

    Check patch for CVE-2021-34481

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-34481?
CVE-2021-34481 is a high vulnerability published on July 16, 2021. <p>A remote code execution vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly performs privileged file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or…
When was CVE-2021-34481 disclosed?
CVE-2021-34481 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 16, 2021, with the most recent update on February 24, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-34481 actively exploited?
CVE-2021-34481 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 98.7% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-34481?
CVE-2021-34481 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.8.
How do I remediate CVE-2021-34481?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-34481, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2021-34481

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