Vulnerability report

Active exploitation observed Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2022-41040

Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Microsoft / Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23 · affected before 15.00.1497.044

Severity
CVSS 8.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Observed in sensors
EPSS
100.0%
First observed
01 Jul 2026
Last observed
17 Aug 2026

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2022-41040 is Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability.

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence sensors observed exploitation attempts with confirmed confidence.

Who is affected?

Microsoft / Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23 affected before 15.00.1497.044.

What should we do?

Patch immediately, validate internet-facing exposure, and monitor for matching requests.

Overview

Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Vendor Product Affected Status
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23 Before 15.00.1497.044 Affected
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 22 Before 15.01.2375.037 Affected
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 11 Before 15.02.0986.036 Affected
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 12 Before 15.02.1118.020 Affected
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 23 Before 15.01.2507.016 Affected
View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
03 Oct 2022
Exploitation Reported
30 Sep 2022
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

malware metasploit microsoft cisa ransomware

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 30 Sep 2022

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Active exploitation observed

KEV Intelligence sensor

First observed 01 Jul 2026

First-party sensor telemetry confirms matching exploitation attempts.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 30 Sep 2022

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2022-09-30 00:00 UTC
KEV Intelligence 2026-07-30 13:51 UTC

Operational indicators for this CVE are listed under Detection.

Sensor telemetry

First-party evidence of exploitation activity

Aggregate observations show the scale, recency, and distribution of activity without overstating sparse data.

324

Attempts observed

277

Unique attacker IPs

1

Attacker countries

US

33

Sensors observed

Exploitation attempts over the last 51 days

Daily events observed by KEV Intelligence sensors

Updated 19 Aug 2026

0
13
0
77
0
16
0
17
3
0
20
0
20
0
22
0
23
0
0
21
0
24
0
26
0
12
11
0
25
0
23
0
23
0
5
23
0
21
16
26
0
26
0
0
10
25
0
0
28
0
0
30 Jun 11 Jul 22 Jul 2 Aug 19 Aug

First observed 01 Jul 2026 · Last observed 17 Aug 2026

Pro adds sensor region and window summaries. Enterprise adds raw IPs, paths, User-Agents, and payloads.

Request telemetry access

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
1
User-Agents
1

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Attacker IP Indicators

Attacker IP indicators observed · available in Pro and Enterprise.

Sensor-derived attacker IP indicators are available to Pro and Enterprise accounts under Detection and through the Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

100.0%

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Observed by KEV Intelligence sensors

    Evidence-backed exploitation signal

  2. Indicators of compromise added (437)

    Indicators of compromise recorded

  3. Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  4. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  6. First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  7. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2022-41040

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2022-41040",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 8.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.99956,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": true
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 324, "sensors": 33 }
}

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