Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain low-privilege local session
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DeliveryIdentify file target outside container boundary
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ExploitPlant crafted symbolic link in driver-accessible path
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ExecutionTrigger file operation through unionfs.sys
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PersistDriver follows link without validation
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ImpactOverwrite or corrupt target file
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling Symlink resolution safety
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| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires a locally authenticated session with at least low-privilege (standard user) rights on the target Windows 11 26H1 system. The Windows Container Isolation feature - specifically the unionfs.sys FS Filter Driver - must be present and operational, which is the case on any Windows 11 26H1 installation where Windows Sandbox or container support is enabled. The attacker must be able to create symbolic or hard links on the local filesystem. Exploitation is NOT automatable remotely: the CVSS vector is AV:L (local access mandatory) and SSVC confirms the attack is not automatable. Exploitation is limited to Windows 11 version 26H1 builds below 10.0.28000.2704; other Windows versions are not listed as affected. |
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N) accurately reflects a moderate local tampering risk: attack complexity is low, but exploitation is confined to the local machine and requires at least a low-privilege authenticated session. The SSVC assessment reinforces this - exploitation status is none, the vulnerability is not automatable (it requires deliberate local interaction), and technical impact is rated partial. No active exploitation is confirmed and no public proof-of-concept has been identified at time of analysis. Real-world priority is therefore low unless the affected systems are multi-tenant environments where container isolation is a critical security boundary (e.g., shared developer workstations or cloud-hosted Windows sandbox deployments). A notable discrepancy exists in the source data: the intelligence tags label this 'Information Disclosure', yet both the CVE description ('tampering') and the CVSS impact metrics (C:N/I:H/A:N - no confidentiality loss, high integrity loss) consistently indicate a file integrity/tampering impact, not confidentiality exposure. The 'Information Disclosure' tag appears to be a misclassification and should not be relied upon. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A locally authenticated low-privilege user on a Windows 11 26H1 system plants a symbolic link in a location that the Container Isolation FS Filter Driver (unionfs.sys) will traverse during a file operation. When the driver processes the link without resolving it to its true target, the attacker's crafted path redirects the write or modify operation to an arbitrary file on the host filesystem, allowing them to corrupt or overwrite files they would not ordinarily have write access to. No public proof-of-concept has been identified, but the technique is well-understood within the CWE-59 class. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 11, 2026
Symlink-following in the Windows Container Isolation FS Filter Driver (unionfs.sys) enables a locally authenticated attacker with low privileges to tamper with files outside the expected isolation boundary. Affected systems run Windows 11 version 26H1 builds prior to 10.0.28000.2704. A vendor patch is available; no public exploit code exists and CISA has not added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
RemediationAI
Apply the vendor-released patch that brings Windows 11 26H1 to build 10.0.28000.2704 or later via Windows Update or WSUS; this is the only confirmed fix per EUVD-2026-56603 and the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72971. No public workaround has been documented. If patching is temporarily blocked, organizations can reduce exposure by restricting which users are permitted to run Windows containers or access sandbox environments on sensitive machines, as exploitation requires local authenticated access and the ability to interact with the container isolation layer. Disabling or restricting Windows Sandbox/container features entirely on systems where they are not operationally required would eliminate the attack surface at the cost of losing that functionality.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access) describes a class of vulnerabilities where a program follows a symbolic or hard link to access a file without verifying that the resolved path is within the intended scope. Here, the Windows Container Isolation FS Filter Driver (unionfs.sys) - a kernel-mode driver that implements filesystem isolation for Windows containers and sandbox environments - fails to resolve link targets before performing file operations. This allows a low-privileged user to plant a symbolic link that redirects a driver-mediated file access to an arbitrary location on the host filesystem, bypassing the isolation guarantee the driver is supposed to enforce. The affected build range per EUVD is Windows 11 version 26H1, builds 10.0.28000.0 through 10.0.28000.2703 inclusive.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Local-only attack requiring a low-privilege session to plant symlinks; no confidentiality loss, no scope change, pure integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Windows Container Isolation FS Filter Driver (unionfs.sys) allows an authorized attacker to perform tampering locally.
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.
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EUVD-2026-56603
GHSA-mq4h-r45f-27gp
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB