EUVD-2026-44148
GHSA-9758-j9jf-94jr
Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local EoP requiring an existing low-privileged foothold (AV:L, PR:L), no user interaction, low complexity, crossing into the elevated DWM context (S:C) for full SYSTEM-level C/I/A impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Heap-based buffer overflow in Desktop Window Manager allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
AnalysisAI
Local privilege escalation in the Windows Desktop Window Manager (DWM) lets an already-authenticated, low-privileged attacker corrupt heap memory (CWE-122) to gain SYSTEM-level control across Windows 10 (1607 through 22H2), Windows 11 (24H2/25H2/26H1), and Windows Server 2016 through 2025. The CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8 reflects a scope change into a higher-integrity context with full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the flaw is not listed in CISA KEV; Microsoft has released a patch.
Technical ContextAI
The Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe with its uDWM/cDWM components) is the compositing engine that renders the Windows desktop, window buffers, and visual effects, processing graphics data on behalf of user sessions while running in an elevated context. This vulnerability is a CWE-122 heap-based buffer overflow, meaning a length or bounds check on data written into a heap-allocated buffer is missing or incorrect, allowing an attacker-controlled write to spill past the allocation and corrupt adjacent heap metadata or objects. Because DWM handles requests originating from lower-privileged user processes, a crafted call into its graphics/composition interfaces can trigger the overflow and be leveraged to hijack execution flow in the elevated process. The CPE data confirms the defect lives in the operating-system graphics stack shipped uniformly across the affected Windows client and server SKUs rather than in a third-party component.
RemediationAI
Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-50692 as documented in the MSRC Update Guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-50692; this is Patch available per vendor advisory (consult the MSRC page for the exact KB article and build number matching each affected SKU, since the input does not enumerate per-SKU fixed versions). Prioritize deployment on multi-user systems such as Remote Desktop Session Hosts and jump servers where many low-privileged users share a host, as those maximize exposure to a local EoP. Because the vulnerability is local-only and resides in a core graphics component that cannot be disabled without breaking the desktop, there is no clean pre-patch workaround; compensating controls are limited to reducing who can execute code on affected hosts - enforce least privilege, restrict interactive and RDP logon rights to trusted users, and apply application allow-listing such as WDAC or AppLocker to prevent unauthorized binaries from running, accepting the administrative overhead these controls impose. Monitoring for unexpected dwm.exe crashes or anomalous child processes provides a useful detection signal until patches are deployed.
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Same weakness CWE-122 – Heap-based Buffer Overflow
View allSame technique Heap Overflow
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today