EUVD-2026-44265
GHSA-5838-m6rw-7vh8
Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local authenticated foothold required (AV:L/PR:L) with no user interaction; kernel EoP yields full compromise, so C/I/A all High and scope unchanged.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
5DescriptionNVD
Exposure of sensitive information to an unauthorized actor in Windows Win32K allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
AnalysisAI
Local privilege escalation in the Windows Win32k kernel-mode subsystem allows an authenticated low-privileged attacker to disclose sensitive kernel information and elevate to higher privileges on affected Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server (2012 through 2025) systems. Microsoft has released patches; SSVC rates technical impact as total but exploitation status as none, and there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis. EPSS is low (0.50%, 39th percentile), consistent with a local-only, non-automatable flaw rather than mass-exploitable one.
Technical ContextAI
Win32k.sys is the kernel-mode component of the Windows subsystem that handles the GUI, window management, and the graphics device interface; because it runs in kernel space and has historically exposed a large attack surface reachable from user mode via system calls, it is a recurring target for elevation-of-privilege research. The root cause maps to CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor): the component leaks kernel-space data (for example memory addresses or object contents) to a lower-privileged caller, which can be used to defeat KASLR or otherwise bootstrap a privilege-escalation primitive. Per the CPE and EUVD data this affects the Win32k code across the full supported Windows line, from Windows 10 1607 (build 10.0.14393) and Server 2012 (6.2.9200) up to Windows 11 26H1 and Server 2025 (10.0.26100).
RemediationAI
Apply Microsoft's security update for this CVE, which is available from the vendor; install the cumulative update that brings each system to at least the fixed build for its edition - for example Windows 11 24H2/25H2 to 10.0.26100.8875, Windows Server 2025 to 10.0.26100.33158, Windows Server 2022 to 10.0.20348.5386, Windows 10 22H2 to 10.0.19045.7548, and Windows Server 2012 to 6.2.9200.26226 - as listed in the MSRC advisory (https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-57095). No Microsoft-provided workaround is documented; because exploitation requires an authenticated local foothold, the practical compensating controls until patching are to restrict and monitor local/interactive logon rights, enforce least privilege so untrusted code cannot run as an interactive user, and prioritize patching on multi-user or shared hosts (RDS/terminal servers, jump boxes) where low-privileged users coexist with sensitive assets - the trade-off being operational friction on shared systems rather than any functional loss.
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Same weakness CWE-200 – Information Exposure
View allSame technique Information Disclosure
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today