Applies To
Windows 10 Home and Pro, version 21H2 Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, version 21H2 Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 21H2 Windows 10 Home and Pro, version 22H2 Windows 10 Enterprise Multi-Session, version 22H2 Windows 10 Enterprise and Education, version 22H2 Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, version 22H2 Windows 11 Home and Pro, version 21H2 Windows 11 Enterprise Multi-Session, version 21H2 Windows 11 Enterprise and Education, version 21H2 Windows 11 IoT Enterprise, version 21H2 Azure Local, version 22H2 Windows Server 2022

Introduction

Microsoft has developed a sample PowerShell script that can help you automate updating the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) on deployed devices to address the security vulnerabilities in CVE-2024-20666.

Sample PowerShell script

The sample PowerShell script was developed by the Microsoft product team to help automate the updating of WinRE images. Run the script with Administrator credentials in PowerShell on the affected devices.

Note This script is for all supported versions of Windows.

#################################################################################

#

# Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.

# Licensed under the MIT License.

#

# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED *AS IS*, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR

# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,

# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER

# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,

# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE

# SOFTWARE.

#

#################################################################################

Param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true, HelpMessage="Path to target package")][string]$PackagePath,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false, HelpMessage="Directory to dism get-packages logs")][string]$LogDir
)

Set-StrictMode -Version Latest;

# Function to get WinRE path
function GetWinREPath {
    $WinRELocation = (reagentc /info | Select-String "Windows RE location")
    if ($WinRELocation) {
        return $WinRELocation.ToString().Split(':')[-1].Trim()
    } else {
        Write-Host "Failed to find WinRE path" -ForegroundColor Red
        exit 1
    }
}

# Function to get WinRE version
function GetWinREVersion {
    $filePath = "C:\mnt\Windows\System32\winpeshl.exe"
    $WinREVersion = (Get-Item $filePath).VersionInfo.FileVersionRaw.Revision
    return [int]$WinREVersion
}

# Function to get package version
function GetPackageVersion {
    $PackageInfo = dism /Online /Get-PackageInfo /PackagePath:"$PackagePath" | Select-String "Version :"
    if ($PackageInfo) {
        $VersionString = ($PackageInfo -split ':')[-1].Trim()
        if ($VersionString -match "\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.(\d+)") {
            return [int]$matches[1]  # Extract the last part (build number)
        } else {
            Write-Host "Failed to parse package version" -ForegroundColor Red
            exit 1
        }
    } else {
        Write-Host "Failed to retrieve package version" -ForegroundColor Red
        exit 1
    }
}

# Function to ensure log directory access
function EnsureLogDirAccess {
    param([string]$LogDir)
    if (Test-Path $LogDir) {
        try {
            $TestFile = "$LogDir\test_write_access.txt"
            Set-Content -Path $TestFile -Value "Test" -ErrorAction Stop
            Remove-Item -Path $TestFile -Force -ErrorAction Stop
            Write-Host "Log directory access verified." -ForegroundColor Green
        } catch {
            Write-Host "Insufficient permissions for log directory: $LogDir. Attempting to gain access..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
            try {
                $acl = Get-Acl $LogDir
                $rule = New-Object System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule("Everyone", "FullControl", "ContainerInherit,ObjectInherit", "None", "Allow")
                $acl.SetAccessRule($rule)
                Set-Acl -Path $LogDir -AclObject $acl
                Write-Host "Successfully gained access to log directory: $LogDir" -ForegroundColor Green
            } catch {
                Write-Host "Failed to gain access to log directory: $LogDir" -ForegroundColor Red
                exit 1
            }
        }
    } else {
        Write-Host "Log directory does not exist: $LogDir. Creating directory..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
        try {
            New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $LogDir -Force | Out-Null
            Write-Host "Log directory created: $LogDir" -ForegroundColor Green
        } catch {
            Write-Host "Failed to create log directory: $LogDir" -ForegroundColor Red
            exit 1
        }
    }
}

# If file is other than .cab then exit
if ($PackagePath -notmatch "\.cab$") {
    Write-Host "Invalid package format. Only .cab files are supported." -ForegroundColor Red
    exit 1
}

# Main Execution
$WinREPath = GetWinREPath
$PackageVersion = GetPackageVersion

Write-Host "WinRE Path: $WinREPath" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "Package Version: $PackageVersion" -ForegroundColor Cyan

if ($LogDir) {
    EnsureLogDirAccess -LogDir $LogDir
}

# Make dir C:\mnt if not exists
$TempDir = "C:\mnt"

# Get the read write permission for this directory
if (-not (Test-Path $TempDir)) {
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $TempDir -Force | Out-Null
}

# Mount WinRE image
dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:"$WinREPath\winre.wim" /Index:1 /MountDir:"$TempDir"

$WinREVersion = GetWinREVersion
Write-Host "WinRE Version: $WinREVersion" -ForegroundColor Cyan

if ($PackageVersion -gt $WinREVersion)
{
    Write-Host "Applying patch..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
    if ($LogDir) {
        dism /Image:"$TempDir" /Add-Package /PackagePath:"$PackagePath" /LogPath:"$LogDir\PatchWinRE.log"
    } else {
        dism /Image:"$TempDir" /Add-Package /PackagePath:"$PackagePath"
    }
    Write-Host "Committing changes..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
    dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:"$TempDir" /Commit
    Write-Host "Patch applied and committed successfully!" -ForegroundColor Green
}
else{
    Write-Host "Already have a greater or equal version, no update needed." -ForegroundColor Green
    dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:"$TempDir" /Discard
}

# Disable WinRE and re-enable it to let new WinRE be trusted by BitLocker
Write-Host "Disable WinRE"
reagentc /disable
Write-Host "Re-enable WinRE"
reagentc /enable
reagentc /info

# Cleanup
Remove-Item -Path $TempDir -Force -Recurse

## Usage
# .\Patch_WinRE_Generic.ps1 -PackagePath <path_to_cab_file>
# .\Patch_WinRE_Generic.ps1 -PackagePath <path_to_cab_file> -LogDir <path_to_custom_log_folder>

More information

With the device started up into the running version of Windows installed on the device, the script will perform the following steps:

  1. Mount the existing WinRE image (WINRE.WIM).

  2. Update the WinRE image with the specified Safe OS Dynamic Update (Compatibility Update) package available from the Windows Update Catalog. We recommend that you use the latest Safe OS Dynamic Update available for the version of Windows installed on the device.

  3. Unmount the WinRE image.

  4. If the BitLocker TPM protector is present, reconfigures WinRE for BitLocker service.

    Important This step is not present in most third-party scripts for applying updates to the WinRE image.

Usage

The following parameters can be passed to the script:

Parameter

Description

LogDir

<Optional> Specifies the scratch space used to patch WinRE. If not specified, the script will use the default temp folder for the device.

packagePath

<Required> Specifies the path and name of the OS-version-specific and processor architecture-specific Safe OS Dynamic update package to be used to update the WinRE image.Note This can be a local path or a remote UNC path but the Safe OS Dynamic Update must be downloaded and available for the script to use.

Example: 

.\Patch_WinRE_Generic.ps1 -packagePath "\\server\share\windows10.0-kb5021043-x64_efa19d2d431c5e782a59daaf2d.cab

References

How to Write and Run Scripts in the Windows PowerShell ISE 

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