{"id":"CVE-2014-1812","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2014-1812"],"related":[],"title":"Microsoft Windows: Microsoft Windows Group Policy Preferences Password Privilege Escalation Vulnerability","description":"The Group Policy implementation in Microsoft Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2 does not properly handle distribution of passwords, which allows remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive credential information and consequently gain privileges by leveraging access to the SYSVOL share, as exploited in the wild in May 2014, aka \"Group Policy Preferences Password Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability.\"","summary":"Windows Active Directory stores passwords set through Group Policy Preferences in a form that an authenticated user can decrypt. An attacker with any domain account can recover those passwords and use them to gain higher privileges across the domain.","severity":"critical","cvss":9.0,"epss":0.65117,"exploited":true,"exploited_at":"2021-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","products":[{"name":"Microsoft Windows","fixed":[],"affected":"","ecosystem":"vendor"}],"ecosystems":["vendor"],"tags":["active-directory","exploited","group-policy","infrastructure","ransomware","windows"],"not_affected_if":["no-active-directory","no-gpp-passwords"],"how_to_check":"Search SYSVOL for Group Policy Preferences files containing cpassword attributes, for example: findstr /S /I cpassword \\\\<domain>\\SYSVOL\\*.xml","fix":"Apply the Microsoft update for MS14-025 per vendor instructions, then remove any stored cpassword entries from Group Policy Preferences and rotate the passwords they contained.","status":"open","published_at":"2014-05-14T11:13:06+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-23T21:39:46+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:35+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.7,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-23T21:39:46Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"Apply the Microsoft update for MS14-025 per vendor instructions, then remove any stored cpassword entries from Group Policy Preferences and rotate the passwords they contained.\nunknown","reach":"network","impact":"high","summary":"Windows Active Directory stores passwords set through Group Policy Preferences in a form that an authenticated user can decrypt. An attacker with any domain account can recover those passwords and use them to gain higher privileges across the domain.","category":"infrastructure","who_cares":["windows","active-directory","group-policy"],"confidence":0.7,"needs_auth":"yes","worst_case":"Any domain user recovers stored passwords and escalates to domain privileges.","analyst_note":"Confirm the exact patch and KB numbers and the cpassword cleanup steps from the Microsoft MS14-025 bulletin, since the sources give no fixed version.","how_to_check":"Search SYSVOL for Group Policy Preferences files containing cpassword attributes, for example: findstr /S /I cpassword \\\\<domain>\\SYSVOL\\*.xml\nunknown","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-gpp-passwords","no-active-directory"],"user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"yes","severity_if_unknown":"high"},"cost_usd":0.000516,"input_tokens":2891,"output_tokens":454,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-1812':14A,17A '-2014':13A,16A '2008':80C '2012':95C '2014':134C '7':86C '8':89C '8.1':91C 'access':122C 'account':54B 'across':66B 'activ':21B,31B 'active-directori':20B 'aka':135C 'allow':107C 'attack':50B 'authent':45B,109C 'consequ':117C 'credenti':114C 'cve':12A,15A 'decrypt':48B 'directori':22B,32B 'distribut':103C 'domain':53B,68B 'elev':140C 'escal':10A 'exploit':23B,128C 'form':42B 'gain':63B,118C 'gold':96C 'group':5A,25B,37B,70C,136C 'group-polici':24B 'handl':102C 'higher':64B 'implement':72C 'inform':115C 'infrastructur':27B 'leverag':121C 'may':133C 'microsoft':1A,3A,18A,74C 'obtain':112C 'password':8A,34B,58B,105C,139C 'polici':6A,26B,38B,71C,137C 'prefer':7A,39B,138C 'privileg':9A,65B,119C,142C 'proper':101C 'r2':83C,98C 'ransomwar':28B 'recov':56B 'remot':108C 'sensit':113C 'server':79C,94C 'set':35B 'share':126C 'sp1':84C,87C 'sp2':77C,81C 'store':33B 'sysvol':125C 'use':60B 'user':46B,110C 'vista':76C 'vulner':11A,143C 'wild':131C 'window':2A,4A,29B,30B,75C,78C,85C,88C,90C,93C 'windows':19A","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":null,"tier":null,"verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2014-05-14T11:13:06+00:00","kev":{"dateAdded":"2021-11-03","dueDate":"2022-05-03","requiredAction":"Apply updates per vendor instructions.","knownRansomwareCampaignUse":"Known"},"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvss_by":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"kev","external_id":"CVE-2014-1812","url":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?search_api_fulltext=CVE-2014-1812","severity":null,"published_at":"2021-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","modified_at":null,"first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-25T11:39:18+00:00","note":null},{"source":"epss","external_id":"CVE-2014-1812","url":"https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2014-1812","severity":null,"published_at":null,"modified_at":null,"first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T19:13:44+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T19:13:44+00:00","note":null},{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2014-1812","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-1812","severity":null,"published_at":"2014-05-14T11:13:06+00:00","modified_at":"2026-06-17T00:05:35+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:35+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:35+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}