Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessReach AD FS network endpoint
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DeliverySend crafted/unthrottled requests
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ExploitTrigger unbounded resource allocation (CWE-770)
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ExecutionExhaust server resources
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ImpactFederation service denial of service
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires network reachability to an AD FS (Active Directory Federation Services) endpoint on an affected Windows Server build (Server 2012 through 2025, including Server Core, plus Windows 10 1607/1809 hosting the role). Per the CVSS vector this is remote and unauthenticated with low complexity and no user interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N), so default AD FS deployments that are internet- or intranet-reachable are exposed. Limiting factors: the target must actually run the AD FS role (a specific, optionally-installed federation service, not every Windows Server), the endpoint must be reachable by the attacker, and CISA's SSVC assessment rates the flaw as Automatable=no, suggesting exploitation is not trivially scriptable for mass campaigns. Impact is confined to availability (C:N/I:N/A:H) - a service outage, not data compromise or code execution. |
| Impact | Signals are internally consistent and point to a genuine but moderate-priority availability issue. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, base 7.5) describes a network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated resource-exhaustion flaw with pure availability impact and no confidentiality or integrity loss - a classic CWE-770 DoS. Corroborating signals temper the urgency: EPSS is low at 0.80% (54th percentile), CISA SSVC scores Exploitation=none, Automatable=no, Technical Impact=partial, and there is no KEV listing and no public exploit. The 'Automatable: no' SSVC value is notable because it means CISA does not currently assess this as trivially scriptable at scale despite the AC:L/PR:N vector, which slightly lowers the practical mass-exploitation risk. Microsoft has shipped a patch. Net: this is a real, remotely triggerable DoS against an internet-facing identity component and should be patched on exposed AD FS servers, but it is not a high-CVSS-but-illusory issue nor an actively exploited emergency - it is a standard Patch-Tuesday-tier availability fix. No signals conflict; the main limitation is that the vendor description is terse and does not name the specific request type or resource that is exhausted. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker with network reach to an organization's AD FS endpoint (often internet-facing to support federated logon) sends a stream of specially crafted or high-volume requests that cause AD FS to allocate resources without limit or throttling, exhausting memory/CPU/handles until the service stops responding. No authentication or user interaction is required, so any party able to reach the endpoint can attempt it. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv2 – Sep 22, 2026
Unauthenticated remote denial of service in Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) allows any network attacker who can reach a federation endpoint to exhaust server resources and degrade or halt authentication services on affected Windows builds. Per the CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), no credentials or user interaction are required, and Windows Server 2012 through 2025 (including Server Core installations) plus Windows 10 1607/1809 hosting the role are in scope; the flaw does not permit data theft, tampering, or code execution. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and CISA KEV does not list this CVE; EPSS is low (0.80%, 54th percentile) and CISA's SSVC rates Exploitation=none, Automatable=no, Technical Impact=partial, making this a genuine but moderate-priority availability risk, with the main caveat that only hosts actually running the optionally-installed AD FS role are exposed. Vendor patches are available.
Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
Denial of service against Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) on multiple Windows Server and Windows 10 builds is achievable by unauthenticated remote attackers via unthrottled resource allocation (CWE-770). High attack complexity (AC:H) limits trivial or automated exploitation, and SSVC assessment confirms no active exploitation and non-automatable attack patterns. Only availability is impacted; confidentiality and integrity are unaffected. Vendor patch is available through Microsoft MSRC; no public exploits have been identified.
RemediationAI
Apply the vendor-released patches: Windows Server 2012 build 6.2.9200.26349, Windows Server 2012 R2 build 6.3.9600.23397, Windows Server 2016 build 10.0.14393.9512, Windows Server 2019 build 10.0.17763.9245, Windows Server 2022 build 10.0.20348.5622 and Windows Server 2025 build 10.0.26100.33438, from the Microsoft Security Response Center update guide at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72978. Where patching must be staged, compensating controls should target the reachability of the federation service: restrict inbound TCP 443 to AD FS to trusted networks, VPN ranges or a reverse proxy, since internet-facing AD FS is the exposure assumed by PR:N/AV:N - the trade-off is that external partners or remote users federating directly will lose access until routed through the proxy. Front AD FS with a WAF/reverse proxy that enforces per-source request rate limits, connection caps and timeouts on the /adfs/ls/ and /adfs/services/trust/* paths; the trade-off is potential throttling of legitimate authentication storms. Disable unused AD FS endpoints and protocol bindings that are not required (for example legacy WS-Trust endpoints via Set-AdfsEndpoint -TargetAddressPath ... -Enabled $false) to shrink the attack surface, accepting the risk that legacy relying-party applications may break. Monitor CPU, memory, thread and connection counters on AD FS hosts and alert on sustained resource growth from a single source, and note that no vendor-documented workaround fully removes the resource-exhaustion condition while the affected builds remain unpatched.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 13 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 root cause is CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling), a resource-consumption class issue in which AD FS fails to bound or rate-limit the work performed per request. AD FS is an optionally-installed Windows Server role that functions as a federation/identity provider, exposing HTTPS endpoints for SAML, WS-Federation, WS-Trust and OAuth/OIDC token issuance (for example /adfs/ls/ and /adfs/services/trust/*) that perform certificate, claim and token generation work on each unauthenticated request. Because authentication is enforced only after initial request parsing and protocol negotiation, an attacker can drive the token/claim pipeline with repeated requests and force the service to consume disproportionate CPU, memory, or thread/connection resources, ultimately causing an outage of dependent SSO flows. The CPE data confirms the exposure surface is the underlying Windows operating system builds rather than a standalone AD FS package: Windows 10 1607 (10.0.14393), Windows 10 1809 (10.0.17763), Windows Server 2012 (6.2.9200), Server 2012 R2 (6.3.9600), Server 2016 (10.0.14393), Server 2019 (10.0.17763), Server 2022 (10.0.20348) and Server 2025 (10.0.26100), including Server Core and Server Core installation variants. The impact is availability-only (C:N/I:N/A:H), consistent with the independent assessment and with SSVC's rating of Technical Impact=partial, so confidentiality and integrity of federation tokens or directory data are not assessed as affected.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Network-reachable AD FS endpoint, no auth or interaction, low-complexity unbounded resource allocation causing availability-only loss with no confidentiality or integrity impact.
Primary rating from NVD.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
5DescriptionNVD
Allocation of resources without limits or throttling in Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) allows an unauthorized attacker to deny service over a network.
Executive ViewAI
Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) is affected by an unauthenticated remote denial-of-service vulnerability (CVE-2026-72978) that can exhaust server resources and interrupt authentication on Windows Server 2012 through 2025, Server Core installations, and Windows 10 1607/1809 hosts where the optional AD FS role is deployed. Because AD FS underpins federated single sign-on, a sustained outage could block workforce access to downstream SaaS and internal applications, although the flaw permits no data theft, tampering, or code execution. No public exploit code exists and CISA KEV does not list this CVE, so leadership should treat it as a manageable but genuine availability risk that still warrants prompt patching of internet-reachable federation endpoints.
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
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
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EUVD-2026-73251
GHSA-pwm8-fh67-2qww
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB