Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessObtain local authenticated session on Autopilot-enrolled device
-
ExploitInvoke unauthenticated Autopilot provisioning function
-
ExecutionTamper with enrollment profile or device configuration
-
ImpactPersist unauthorized provisioning state across device lifecycle
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication required for critical functions
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Initial Access 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 hold an existing authenticated local session on the target Windows device using a standard (low-privilege) user account - PR:L confirms this requirement. The device must be running an affected Windows version with Autopilot components present, which is the default state for any enterprise-managed Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2025/2022 device enrolled via Microsoft Intune or Windows Autopilot. No special configuration, feature flag, or non-default setting is required beyond the device being an Autopilot participant. What limits exploitation: remote unauthenticated access is not possible (AV:L); the attacker cannot escalate to code execution or access confidential data through this path alone (C:N, A:N); and initial local access - whether physical, RDP, or via prior compromise - is a hard prerequisite. |
| Impact | The CVSS 5.5 medium rating is well-calibrated for this vulnerability. The local attack vector and low-privilege requirement mean an attacker must already hold an interactive or remote desktop session on the target device, placing this squarely in the post-compromise or insider-threat category rather than an initial-access path. No EPSS score was provided in the input data, and the absence of a KEV listing and public exploit code confirms there is no evidence of opportunistic or widespread exploitation. The integrity-only impact (I:H) is contextually significant in enterprise environments using Autopilot for fleet provisioning: an attacker who can tamper with Autopilot enrollment state or provisioning configurations could affect device trust posture or redirect a device away from corporate management. The 'Authentication Bypass' tag in the input metadata is a loose semantic fit - CWE-306 describes a function that simply lacks an auth check, which is distinct from bypassing an existing authentication mechanism. EPSS data is absent, and no independent exploit research has been cited, so urgency is driven primarily by patch-cycle hygiene rather than active threat signals. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A standard user account holder on an Autopilot-enrolled corporate laptop invokes a local Autopilot management function directly - via API call or a locally accessible interface - that lacks the expected privilege check. Without needing administrator rights, the attacker modifies the device's Autopilot enrollment profile or provisioning parameters, potentially redirecting the device to an attacker-controlled management tenant on next reset. No public exploit code has been identified, so exploitation currently requires knowledge of the specific unprotected function surface. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 08, 2026
Windows Autopilot on multiple Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server releases exposes a critical provisioning function without the required authentication check (CWE-306), enabling a local low-privileged user to tamper with Autopilot device state or enrollment configuration. Microsoft confirmed the issue through MSRC and released patched builds across all affected Windows versions via Patch Tuesday. No public exploit code or CISA KEV listing has been identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Apply the Microsoft security update for the applicable Windows version through Windows Update, Microsoft Update Catalog, or WSUS. Patched builds are: Windows 11 v26H1 ≥10.0.28000.2954, Windows 11 v25H2/24H2 ≥10.0.26100.9445 and ≥10.0.26200.9445, Windows 11 v23H2 ≥10.0.22631.7582, Windows 10 v22H2 ≥10.0.19045.7725, Windows 10 v21H2 ≥10.0.19044.7725, Windows Server 2025 ≥10.0.26100.33438, and Windows Server 2022 ≥10.0.20348.5622. The MSRC advisory is at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-73004. Where immediate patching is not feasible, compensating controls should focus on restricting interactive local access to Autopilot-enrolled devices: enforce Device Guard or Windows Defender Application Control policies to limit which accounts may interact with provisioning APIs, apply Conditional Access policies to reduce the population of accounts that can establish local sessions, and audit local user account membership on managed endpoints. These controls reduce the attack surface but do not eliminate the underlying missing-authentication flaw.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 9 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 Autopilot is Microsoft's cloud-integrated zero-touch device provisioning and lifecycle management framework, present across Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2022/2025 installations. CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Function) indicates that one or more Autopilot-related local functions or APIs execute sensitive operations without validating that the caller holds the required privilege level. The CVSS vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N is internally consistent: a standard local user account (PR:L) suffices to invoke the unprotected function with no complexity constraint and no required interaction. The scope-unchanged flag (S:U) indicates the impact is contained to the Autopilot subsystem rather than crossing a privilege boundary into the OS kernel or another security domain. The absence of confidentiality and availability impacts (C:N, A:N) narrows the concern to integrity: an attacker can alter provisioning or enrollment state but cannot read protected data or crash the system through this path alone.
Know when Windows 10 21h2 gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Local standard-user access required; missing auth on a provisioning function yields integrity-only impact with no confidentiality or availability consequence.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Missing authentication for critical function in Windows Autopilot 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
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
More in Windows 10 21h2
View all<p>A remote code execution vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly performs privileged fi
Windows MSDT (Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool) allows remote code execution when called via the ms-msdt URL protocol f
Windows Search Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely explo
Internet Shortcut Files Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is rem
Denial of service against HTTP/2 server implementations allows remote unauthenticated attackers to exhaust server resour
Windows Kernel contains a TOCTOU race condition vulnerability allowing local privilege escalation, exploited by the OilR
Windows Internet Shortcut Files (.url) contain an external control vulnerability (CVE-2025-33053, CVSS 8.8) that enables
Windows SMB contains an improper access control vulnerability (CVE-2025-33073, CVSS 8.8) enabling authenticated attacker
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack co
Why is Microsoft republishing a CVE from 2013? We are republishing CVE-2013-3900 in the Security Update Guide to update
Active Directory Domain Services contains an elevation of privilege vulnerability that allows authenticated domain users
Windows Kernel-Mode Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is l
EUVD-2026-73771
GHSA-r64r-w2wp-fwh6
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB