Microsoft Security Response Center

**According to the CVSS metric, the attack complexity is high (AC:H). What does that mean for this vulnerability?** Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to gather information specific to the environment and take additional actions prior to exploitation to prepare the target environment.

**What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges.

**What kind of security feature could be bypassed by successfully exploiting this vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could bypass Secure Boot.

**According to the CVSS metric, the attack complexity is high (AC:H). What does that mean for this vulnerability?** Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to gather information specific to the environment and take additional actions prior to exploitation to prepare the target environment.

**What kind of security feature could be bypassed by successfully exploiting this vulnerability?** A successful attacker could bypass the BitLocker Device Encryption feature on the system storage device. An attacker with physical access to the target could exploit this vulnerability to gain access to encrypted data.

**What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges.

**According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?** An attacker would have to convince the user to load a malicious file onto a vulnerable system, typically by way of an enticement in an Email or Instant Messenger message, and then convince the user to manipulate the specially crafted file, but not necessarily click or open the malicious file.

**How could an attacker exploit this vulnerability?** To exploit this vulnerability, a victim machine must be running a performance counter collection tool such as Performance Monitor to collect performance counter data from an attacker machine. An attacker with local admin authority on the attacker machine could run malicious code remotely in the victim machine's performance counter data collector process.

**According to the CVSS metric, privileges required is high (PR:H). What does that mean for this vulnerability?** To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker or the targeted user would need to achieve a high level of control over a machine, as the attack requires access to processes typically restricted from average users. Essentially, the exploitation necessitates elevated privileges on the compromised machine due to the requirement of manipulating processes beyond the reach of standard user permissions.

**What type of information could be disclosed by this vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could potentially read small portions of heap memory.