Skip to main content

Severity by source

Vendor (microsoft) PRIMARY
MEDIUM
qualitative
NVD
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CIRCL (temporal)
4.1 MEDIUM
cvss
vuln.today AI
7.8 HIGH

Local post-access EoP requiring a low-privilege authenticated context (AV:L/PR:L), no user interaction, reliable UAF trigger (AC:L), yielding full SYSTEM control (C/I/A:H).

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Jul 22, 2026 - 17:27 vuln.today
Severity Changed
Jul 16, 2026 - 19:52 NVD
MEDIUM HIGH
CVSS changed
Jul 16, 2026 - 19:52 NVD
4.7 (MEDIUM) 7.8 (HIGH)
CVE Published
Jul 14, 2026 - 17:06 nvd
MEDIUM 4.7
CVE Published
Jul 14, 2026 - 17:06 nvd
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionNVD

Use after free in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

AnalysisAI

Local privilege escalation in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys) allows an authenticated low-privileged attacker to gain SYSTEM-level control by triggering a use-after-free condition in the kernel networking driver. The flaw affects a broad range of Windows client and server releases from Windows 10 1607 through Windows 11 26H1 and Windows Server 2012 through Server 2025. Reported by Microsoft with a vendor patch available; no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and EPSS exploitation probability is low (0.31%).

Technical ContextAI

The Ancillary Function Driver (AFD.sys) is the kernel-mode driver that underpins the Windows Sockets (WinSock) API, mediating user-mode socket calls into the transport stack. It is a long-standing, high-value privilege-escalation target because it is reachable from unprivileged user code yet executes in kernel context. The root cause is CWE-416 (Use After Free): the driver continues to reference a kernel object after it has been freed, allowing a crafted sequence of socket operations to reclaim and manipulate the stale allocation. Controlling the freed object's memory lets an attacker corrupt kernel structures and redirect execution or falsify security tokens.

RemediationAI

Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-50312 via the MSRC Update Guide (https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-50312); patch to at least the fixed builds for your edition - for example Windows 11 24H2 10.0.26100.8875, Windows 10 22H2 10.0.19045.7548, Windows Server 2022 10.0.20348.5386, Server 2025 10.0.26100.33158, Server 2019 10.0.17763.9020, Server 2016/10.0.14393.9339, Server 2012 6.2.9200.26226, and Server 2012 R2 6.3.9600.23291. Vendor-released patch is available and is the definitive fix. Because afd.sys is a core kernel component with no configuration toggle, there is no clean disable-the-feature workaround; the practical compensating controls are to enforce least privilege so untrusted users cannot run arbitrary code locally, apply application allowlisting to block unknown binaries, and enable attack-surface-reduction and EDR kernel-exploit detections to catch UAF exploitation attempts. These controls reduce but do not eliminate risk and should be treated as interim measures until patching is complete.

CVE-2026-33824 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Apr 14

Remote code execution in Windows IKE Extension (Internet Key Exchange) via double free memory corruption allows unauthen

CVE-2026-56155 HIGH POC
7.8 Jul 14

Local privilege escalation in Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) lets an already-authenticated low-p

CVE-2026-32202 MEDIUM POC
4.3 Apr 14

Windows Shell protection mechanism failure (CVE-2026-32202) allows remote attackers to perform spoofing attacks over a n

CVE-2026-49798 CRITICAL POC
9.3 Jul 14

Local privilege escalation in the Microsoft Windows Kernel allows an unauthorized attacker to gain elevated (SYSTEM-leve

CVE-2026-54128 HIGH POC
8.4 Jul 14

Local code execution in the Windows DHCP Client service stems from a use-after-free (CWE-416) memory-corruption flaw aff

CVE-2026-50518 CRITICAL
9.8 Jul 14

Remote code execution in the Microsoft Windows DHCP Server role allows an unauthenticated network attacker to run arbitr

CVE-2026-50655 HIGH POC
7.8 Jul 14

Local code execution in the Windows Media component of supported Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server (2016 throug

CVE-2026-54992 HIGH POC
7.8 Jul 14

Local privilege escalation via heap-based buffer overflow in the Windows Message Queuing (MSMQ) Queue Manager component

CVE-2026-50489 HIGH POC
7.8 Jul 14

Local privilege escalation in Microsoft Windows Win32K lets an authenticated low-privileged user corrupt kernel heap mem

CVE-2026-50667 HIGH POC
7.0 Jul 14

Local privilege escalation in the Windows NTFS file system driver lets an authenticated low-privileged user win a race c

CVE-2026-57092 CRITICAL
9.9 Jul 14

Elevation of privilege in the Windows Hyper-V virtual network switch (VMSwitch) lets an authenticated attacker operating

CVE-2026-56190 CRITICAL
9.8 Jul 14

Remote code execution in Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) allows an unauthorized network attacker to run arbitrary

Share

CVE-2026-50312 vulnerability details – vuln.today

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy