Vulnerability report

Active exploitation observed Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2022-41040

Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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
07 Oct 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. Previdian sensors observed exploitation attempts with confirmed confidence. Listed in CISA KEV.

Who is affected?

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

Microsoft Affected
Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 23
Before 15.00.1497.044
Microsoft Affected
Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 22
Before 15.01.2375.037
Microsoft Affected
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 11
Before 15.02.0986.036
Microsoft Affected
Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 12
Before 15.02.1118.020
Microsoft Affected
Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Cumulative Update 23
Before 15.01.2507.016
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 Previdian 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

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Active exploitation observed

Previdian sensor

First observed 01 Jul 2026

Previdian first observed exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability in our honeypot sensors.

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 Previdian Pro API.

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

Operational indicators for this CVE are listed under Detection.

Sensor telemetry

First-party evidence of exploitation activity

Previdian sensors recorded exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability. The cards and chart show volume, unique attackers, and daily activity.

1,466

Attempts observed

1,203

Unique attacker IPs

2

Attacker countries

GB · US

79

Sensors observed

CVE-2022-41040 exploitation attempts over the last 91 days

Daily events observed by Previdian sensors

Updated 09 Oct 2026

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
8
0
0
25
12
29
0
26
0
25
0
29
3
25
27
28
0
0
29
0
25
33
0
32
0
31
0
35
35
0
45
0
45
0
44
0
46
47
0
45
0
61
0
66
63
0
72
0
65
0
0
11 Jul 30 Jul 18 Aug 6 Sep 9 Oct

First observed 01 Jul 2026 · Last observed 07 Oct 2026

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Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

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

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
1
1
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian 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

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

100.0%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 03:59 UTC

    Indicators of compromise added (1296)

    Indicators of compromise recorded

  2. 03:59 UTC

    Observed by Previdian sensors

    Evidence-backed exploitation signal

  3. 15:02 UTC

    Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  4. 00:00 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  6. 00:00 UTC

    First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  7. 00:00 UTC

    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": 1466, "sensors": 79 }
}