CVE-2021-34481: Microsoft Windows 10

High severity, CVSS 8.8. EPSS: 47.7% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

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.

Affected products

• Microsoft Windows 10: affected versions not specified; version 20h2 only; version 21h1 only; version 1607 only; version 1809 only; version 1909 only; …
• Microsoft Windows 7: affected versions not specified
• Microsoft Windows 8.1: affected versions not specified
• Microsoft Windows Rt 8.1: affected versions not specified
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008: affected versions not specified; version r2 only
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012: affected versions not specified
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016: affected versions not specified; version 2004 only
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019: affected versions not specified

Published 2021-07-16. Last modified 2026-08-10.