Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessAuthenticate as low-privileged local user
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DeliveryDrop race-condition exploit binary
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ExploitSpawn concurrent threads against Push Notifications shared resource
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ExecutionWin timing window between check and use
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PersistEscalate to SYSTEM via scope change
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ImpactEstablish persistence and harvest credentials
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Concurrency control, locking
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires local interactive or authenticated session access to the target Windows host with at least low-privilege user rights (PR:L) and the ability to execute arbitrary code that interacts with the Windows Push Notifications service; no user interaction from another user is needed (UI:N). Limiting factors include high attack complexity (AC:H) - the attacker must reliably win a timing race window between concurrent threads accessing the shared resource, which typically demands many attempts and may be sensitive to CPU count, scheduler behavior, and system load - and the requirement that the Push Notification user service be running, which is the default on client SKUs but can be disabled on hardened servers. |
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 reflects local attack vector (AV:L), high attack complexity (AC:H), low privileges required (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), scope change (S:C), and high impact across CIA - meaning a logged-in standard user could escape into another security domain (likely SYSTEM). The high attack complexity (AC:H) reflects the inherent timing-window difficulty of race condition exploitation, which often requires repeated attempts and precise scheduling. EPSS and KEV data are not provided in the input, so real-world exploitation probability cannot be quantitatively assessed; the lack of a CISA KEV listing combined with no public POC suggests this is currently a theoretical-but-real risk rather than an active campaign. Microsoft-reported and Microsoft-patched flaws in core Windows services warrant prompt patching even without confirmed exploitation, particularly on multi-user systems and endpoints where local code execution by low-privileged users is plausible. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An authenticated low-privileged user - for example, a standard domain user on a shared workstation or a low-privilege service account on a multi-tenant terminal server - runs a crafted binary that repeatedly triggers operations against the Windows Push Notification subsystem while a second thread races to swap or modify the shared resource between validation and use. After winning the race, the attacker pivots from limited user to SYSTEM, enabling credential theft from LSASS, installation of persistence, and lateral movement. No public POC has been identified at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jun 09, 2026
Local privilege escalation in Windows Push Notifications enables an authenticated low-privileged user to elevate to higher privileges by exploiting a race condition (CWE-362) in concurrent access to a shared resource. Successful exploitation results in high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability with scope change, but no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Microsoft has released a patch via MSRC advisory.
RemediationAI
Apply the patch available per Microsoft's MSRC advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-42977 by deploying the relevant cumulative or security update for each affected Windows version through Windows Update, WSUS, or your enterprise patch management platform. Exact fix build numbers should be obtained from the MSRC update guide as they were not provided in the input data. As a compensating control on systems that cannot be patched immediately, restrict the ability of low-privileged local users to execute arbitrary code (for example via AppLocker or WDAC policies that limit untrusted binaries), since exploitation requires PR:L local access; disabling the Windows Push Notification User Service (WpnUserService) is technically possible but will break toast notifications, Action Center, and many Modern/UWP apps, so this trade-off is generally only acceptable on hardened single-purpose servers.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 22 packages in microsoft, euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The vulnerability resides in the Windows Push Notification Service (WNS), a Microsoft component responsible for delivering toast and tile notifications to applications on Windows. The root cause is CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization), commonly known as a race condition or TOCTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) flaw, where two or more threads operate on a shared resource without proper locking, allowing an attacker to manipulate state between the check and use phases. Such flaws in Windows kernel-adjacent or service components frequently allow privilege escalation when the racing code path performs privileged operations on attacker-controllable data.
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Severity by source
Sources disagree (Medium–Critical)AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
DescriptionCVE.org
Concurrent execution using shared resource with improper synchronization ('race condition') in Windows Push Notifications allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
Executive ViewAI
Windows Push Notifications vulnerability CVE-2026-42977 enables any authenticated low-privileged user on Windows systems to escalate to administrator-level privileges, creating an insider threat where current or compromised user accounts could access all organizational systems and sensitive data. This vulnerability affects your entire Windows infrastructure and must be remediated immediately. Microsoft has released a patch requiring urgent deployment to contain this risk.
Apply vendor patch.
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
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Race conditions occur when multiple concurrent requests exploit the brief time gap between checking a condition and acting upon it (TOCTOU - Time of Check, Time of Use).
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NVD
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EPSS
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