Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessObtain low-privilege local or RDP session
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DeliveryTrigger HID kernel object lifecycle race condition
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ExploitWin race to access freed kernel memory
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ExecutionCorrupt kernel data structure
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PersistRedirect kernel execution to attacker payload
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ImpactExecute arbitrary code as SYSTEM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | The attacker must have an interactive local or Remote Desktop session on the targeted Windows system (AV:L), authenticated with at minimum a standard low-privilege user account (PR:L). No user interaction from a second user is required (UI:N). Exploitation is further constrained by high attack complexity (AC:H), almost certainly a kernel-level race condition in HID object lifecycle management that requires precise timing or a specific device-state trigger sequence - reliable exploitation likely requires multiple attempts or custom tooling. No special HID hardware, non-default Windows configuration, or specific peripheral device appears to be required based on available description data. Purely remote exploitation without a prior session is not possible (AV:L). The primary limiting factors for defenders are: requirement for a valid local/RDP session and the high-complexity exploit trigger. |
| Impact | The CVSS 7.0 score accurately reflects the constrained attack path: AV:L limits the attack to users already on the machine, PR:L requires at minimum a standard domain or local account, and AC:H indicates the exploit is not push-button - almost certainly a kernel race condition needing precise timing. The full C:H/I:H/A:H impact is real but only realizable post-exploitation of that complex trigger. Even a mid-sized municipal IT team in kielce managing a shared terminal-server estate should treat this as a meaningful lateral-movement risk, because standard user accounts are exactly the foothold threat actors commonly hold after phishing. No CISA KEV listing and no known public PoC keep immediate urgency moderate, but the breadth of affected Windows versions - spanning nearly a decade of releases - and the ubiquitous deployment of the HID subsystem mean patch coverage must be thorough. EPSS data was not provided in the input and cannot be independently assessed; the AC:H constraint suggests exploitation probability in practice is lower than the CVSS base score alone implies. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A threat actor with a low-privilege domain account - obtained via phishing or credential reuse - logs into a Windows terminal server and executes a specially crafted binary that races against HID kernel object teardown, winning the race to corrupt freed memory and redirecting kernel execution flow to a controlled payload. Upon achieving SYSTEM privileges, the attacker can dump credentials from LSASS, disable endpoint protection, or pivot laterally. No public proof-of-concept is known, so reliably triggering the race condition requires significant kernel exploitation expertise. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 09, 2026
Use-after-free in the Windows Human Interface Devices kernel subsystem allows a local, low-privileged user to escalate to SYSTEM-level control. Affecting virtually all current Windows desktop and server releases - Windows 10 (1607 through 22H2), Windows 11 (23H2 through 26H1), Windows Server 2016 through 2025 - successful exploitation requires local session access and precise timing but yields full C:H/I:H/A:H kernel impact. No active exploitation has been confirmed (no CISA KEV listing) and no public proof-of-concept is known; Microsoft has released patches for all affected build branches.
RemediationAI
Apply Microsoft's monthly security update for the specific Windows build in use, available via Windows Update, WSUS, Microsoft Update Catalog, or Intune. Patched builds by release: Windows 10 1607 and Windows Server 2016 → 10.0.14393.9512; Windows 10 1809, Windows Server 2019, and Server 2019 Core → 10.0.17763.9245; Windows 10 21H2 → 10.0.19044.7725; Windows 10 22H2 → 10.0.19045.7725; Windows 11 23H2 → 10.0.22631.7582; Windows 11 24H2 (desktop) → 10.0.26100.9445; Windows Server 2025 (all variants) → 10.0.26100.33438; Windows 11 25H2 → 10.0.26200.9445; Windows 11 26H1 → 10.0.28000.2954; Windows Server 2022 → 10.0.20348.5622. As a compensating control pending patch deployment, restrict interactive logon rights on high-value servers (RDS, domain controllers, privileged workstations) to the minimum required set using Group Policy User Rights Assignment - this removes the PR:L prerequisite for untrusted accounts. Note that restricting logon rights may break legitimate helpdesk or developer workflows and should be scoped carefully.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 15 packages in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The Windows HID (Human Interface Devices) subsystem handles kernel-mode processing of input from USB and Bluetooth keyboards, mice, game controllers, and similar peripherals. CWE-416 (Use After Free) indicates that a kernel object managed by this subsystem is freed while a dangling reference persists; when that freed memory region is subsequently accessed - likely during concurrent device enumeration or IOCTL dispatch - an attacker can corrupt adjacent kernel structures. The AC:H metric is consistent with a race condition between device teardown and an ongoing operation, requiring precise timing to win. Affected CPE data spans Windows NT kernel builds from 10.0.14393 (Windows 10 1607/Server 2016) through 10.0.28000 (Windows 11 26H1), covering all major retail and server-core variants as confirmed by EUVD-2026-72986.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local-only attack requiring a standard user session and high-complexity race-condition exploit; full C/I/A reflects kernel-level SYSTEM privileges post-exploitation with no scope change.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Use after free in Windows Devices Human Interface allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
Executive ViewAI
A Windows kernel vulnerability (CVE-2026-69472) affects all current versions of Windows 10, 11, and Windows Server 2016-2025, allowing local users to escalate privileges to SYSTEM-level control and gain complete administrative compromise. While no active exploitation or public proof-of-concept has been identified, the prevalence of affected Windows versions across virtually every organization's infrastructure creates significant risk exposure requiring immediate patch deployment.
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Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.
Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.
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EUVD-2026-72986
GHSA-v5j9-8wp4-79hh
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB