Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain low-privileged code execution in guest VM
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DeliveryCraft malicious hypercall or device emulation input
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ExploitTrigger heap overflow in host Hyper-V component
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ExecutionOverwrite host heap metadata/function pointer
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PersistExecute arbitrary code at hypervisor privilege level
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ImpactFull host system compromise and access to all co-hosted VMs
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Heap buffer bounds checking
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Execution 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 low-privileged code execution inside a Windows Hyper-V guest virtual machine (PR:L per CVSS vector). The vulnerability is exploited locally - no network path to the target is required, as the attack surface is the hypervisor's guest-to-host interface. The Hyper-V role must be enabled and running on the host; Windows systems without Hyper-V active are not exposed. No user interaction on the host is required (UI:N). The scope change (S:C) indicates that successful exploitation crosses from the guest VM security boundary into the host. Exploitation is limited to authorized users who can run or interact with a guest VM on the affected host - pure external network attackers without prior guest-VM access cannot exploit this directly. |
| Impact | This is a high-priority vulnerability in enterprise and cloud environments. The CVSS 8.8 score (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H) reflects low local complexity with no interaction needed once inside a guest VM, and full host compromise on success. The scope-change and full C/I/A triad represent worst-case hypervisor impact - an attacker breaking out of a guest can read or destroy all other VMs, steal encryption keys or credentials stored on the host, pivot to the management network, and persist below the OS. In multi-tenant environments (shared Hyper-V hosts, Azure Stack, hosted VDI), a single compromised tenant VM could laterally compromise all co-hosted workloads. No EPSS score was provided in the input data, so exploitation probability cannot be quantitatively compared. No CISA KEV listing or public POC has been identified, which slightly reduces urgency for opportunistic attack scenarios, but the low exploitation complexity means that any threat actor capable of running guest code (e.g., via phishing, supply-chain compromise, or insider access) can weaponize this without sophisticated tooling. Organizations running shared Hyper-V hosts or using Hyper-V for security boundaries (e.g., DeviceGuard, Windows Sandbox, WSL2) should treat this as critical. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who has gained low-privileged code execution inside a Hyper-V guest VM - for example, through a phishing compromise of a tenant workload - crafts a malicious hypercall or device emulation request that triggers the heap overflow in the host-side Hyper-V component. The overflow corrupts host heap structures, allowing the attacker to redirect execution flow to shellcode running at the hypervisor privilege level. From there, the attacker gains full control of the physical host, can read or modify memory of all other co-hosted VMs, and can establish persistence below the guest OS boundary. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, but the low attack complexity (AC:L) suggests this would not be unusually difficult to develop for a motivated, capable threat actor. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 09, 2026
Heap-based buffer overflow in Windows Hyper-V enables a low-privileged guest VM user to escape the hypervisor sandbox and execute arbitrary code on the host system. The CVSS scope-change metric (S:C) and C:H/I:H/A:H impact ratings confirm this is a full VM-escape class vulnerability, giving an attacker inside a guest complete control over the underlying Hyper-V host. Affected versions span Windows 10 1607 through Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2012 through Server 2025; Microsoft has released patches via Windows Update. No public exploit code or CISA KEV listing has been identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Apply Microsoft's cumulative update immediately via Windows Update or WSUS/MECM. Target build numbers by platform are: Windows Server 2025 → 10.0.26100.33438; Windows Server 2022 → 10.0.20348.5622; Windows Server 2019 → 10.0.17763.9245; Windows Server 2016 → 10.0.14393.9512; Windows Server 2012 R2 → 6.3.9600.23397; Windows Server 2012 → 6.2.9200.26349; Windows 11 25H2 → 10.0.26200.9445; Windows 11 24H2 → 10.0.26100.9445; Windows 11 23H2 → 10.0.22631.7582; Windows 10 22H2 → 10.0.19045.7725; Windows 10 21H2 → 10.0.19044.7725; Windows 10 1809 → 10.0.17763.9245; Windows 10 1607 → 10.0.14393.9512. See https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-69603 for the full patch manifest. If immediate patching of shared Hyper-V hosts is not feasible, consider restricting which users can run VMs on high-value hosts, segmenting multi-tenant Hyper-V fleets, and auditing guest VM access. Disabling the Hyper-V role entirely on hosts where it is not required eliminates exposure with no side effects on non-virtualization workloads.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 18 packages in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Windows Hyper-V is Microsoft's Type-1/Type-2 hypervisor, built into Windows Server and Windows 10/11 client editions for hardware-level virtualization. CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow) indicates that a memory allocation in a Hyper-V hypervisor component can be overflowed by a controlled guest-side input, corrupting heap metadata or adjacent objects in the host process context. Because the hypervisor mediates all hardware access for guest VMs, memory corruption in Hyper-V's guest-facing interface can grant native code execution in the privileged host ring. The scope change in the CVSS vector (S:C) is the canonical signal that exploitation crosses a security boundary - here, from the isolated guest VM environment to the host hypervisor. Affected builds are confirmed across Server 2012 (6.2.x), Server 2012 R2 (6.3.x), Server 2016/2019/2022/2025 (10.0.14393.x-10.0.26100.x), and Windows 10/11 client editions running Hyper-V.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local access with low privileges inside a guest VM required; scope changes to host hypervisor yielding full C/I/A impact on host.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Heap-based buffer overflow in Windows Hyper-V allows an authorized attacker to execute code locally.
Executive ViewAI
Windows Hyper-V across versions 10 (1607-25H2) and Server 2012-2025 contains a heap-based buffer overflow enabling VM escape: any user with access to a guest virtual machine can escalate to full control of the underlying hypervisor host. Organizations running Hyper-V with multi-tenant workloads or untrusted guest VMs face immediate risk of host compromise and lateral movement across all hosted systems.
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
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.
A heap overflow occurs when a program writes data beyond the bounds of a buffer allocated in the heap memory region.
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EUVD-2026-73145
GHSA-cq44-5v37-c39f
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB