critical Known exploitedREV. 01

CVE-2021-31166Windows Web Stack — Use-After-Free in the Protocol Driver

The Windows kernel driver that parses web requests frees an object and keeps using it, letting an unauthenticated attacker run code in the kernel — and it spreads without user action.

YOUR NEXT MOVE

Apply Microsoft's update on every affected Windows version, including hosts where only the web stack listens.

Read the risk

THE VITAL STATS
CVSS score
9.8/ 10
CVSS v3.1
EPSS probability
100%
Likelihood of exploitation
Attack complexity
Low
Conditions needed to exploit
Known exploited
Yes — CISA KEV
CVE published
2021-05-11
Added to KEV
2022-04-06
Exploit published
Not recorded
Confidence
high
Kill chain
initial access
MITRE ATT&CK
T1190
Severity
critical

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

Attacker needsNetwork access to a listening web service

Behind the card

4 REFERENCES
Field-level provenanceTRACE THE SOURCES +

Which source supports each field, when it was retrieved, and who extracted it.

FieldsSourceRetrievedExtractorConfidence
cvss, exploitation.attack_complexity, exploitation.exploit_available, references, published_atnvd.nist.gov2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
exploitation.known_exploited, exploitation.kev_addedcisa.gov2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
epssapi.first.org2026-08-07scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
title, summary, severity, remediation, mitre_attack, kill_chain, recommended_action, confidence, tags, exploitation.prerequisitesnvd.nist.gov2026-08-07claude-codehigh
mitre_attacknvd.nist.gov2026-09-20humanhigh

Printing history

THE RECORD
  1. r1Initial base card

First printing. This card has not been reprinted since publication.

crds:cve-2021-31166 · CRDS 0.1 · Issued 2026-08-07