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AD CS EUVDEUVD-2026-99320

| CVE-2026-83666 HIGH
Race Condition (CWE-362)
2026-10-13 secure@microsoft.com GHSA-8xp8-49xf-pww4
7.0
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: microsoft
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticate as low-privileged local user
  2. Exploit
    Trigger concurrent AD CS operations on shared resource
  3. Execution
    Win improper-synchronization race window
  4. Impact
    Elevate to SYSTEM privileges

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

The target must have the Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) role installed and running. The attacker must already possess a local authenticated low-privileged account (PR:L) on that host - this is not remotely reachable (AV:L) and requires no victim interaction (UI:N). The decisive limiting factor is the high attack complexity (AC:H): success depends on winning a narrow, timing-dependent race condition in a shared resource, so exploitation is non-deterministic and may require many attempts, which is why CISA SSVC rates it non-automatable. Hosts without the AD CS role are not affected.

Impact

Signals point to a genuine but non-urgent local elevation-of-privilege issue. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 7.0) describes a locally-exploitable flaw requiring an already-authenticated low-privileged user and a high-complexity race window, yielding full confidentiality, integrity and availability impact (SYSTEM-level) with no scope change. CISA SSVC reinforces lower urgency: Exploitation 'none', Automatable 'no', Technical Impact 'total' - i.e. severe if exploited but not currently seen in attacks and not amenable to mass automation (consistent with AC:H and the need for prior local access). No EPSS score was supplied, the CVE is not on CISA KEV, and no public exploit was provided, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified from the data. The 'total' technical impact aligns with the C:H/I:H/A:H rating, and nothing in the signals conflicts. Net: a real patch-management priority for AD CS/CA hosts as a post-compromise privilege-escalation primitive, but not a drop-everything internet-facing emergency, since it needs local authenticated access and a difficult race to win.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A low-privileged authenticated user on a Windows Server running the AD CS role repeatedly triggers concurrent operations against a shared resource that is synchronized improperly, racing to corrupt state during a narrow timing window. Winning the race lets the attacker elevate to SYSTEM-level privileges on the certificate services host. No public exploit code was identified, and the high attack complexity means each attempt may fail, reducing reliability.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 14, 2026

Local privilege escalation in Windows Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) arises from a race condition (CWE-362) on a shared resource, letting an attacker who already holds a low-privileged, locally authenticated account on an AD CS host gain elevated privileges with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The flaw is rated CVSS 7.0 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H): it is not remotely reachable and requires no victim interaction, but its high attack complexity means success depends on winning a narrow, timing-dependent race, so exploitation is non-deterministic and may need many attempts rather than being cleanly automatable - consistent with CISA's SSVC rating of exploitation 'none' and automatable 'no'. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and the issue is not in CISA KEV; Microsoft has shipped a vendor update, making patching the definitive fix.

RemediationAI

Primary fix: apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-83666 from the MSRC update guide (https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-83666) - patch status is 'Patch available per vendor advisory'. The EUVD version boundaries identify the remediated build levels as Windows Server 2012 6.2.9200.26434, Windows Server 2012 R2 6.3.9600.23470, Windows Server 2016 / Windows 10 1607 10.0.14393.9612, Windows Server 2019 / Windows 10 1809 10.0.17763.9376, Windows Server 2022 10.0.20348.5761 and Windows Server 2025 10.0.26100.33650, so verify each CA host reports a build at or above the number matching its OS before considering the estate closed; reboot or restart the certificate services to ensure the updated binaries are loaded. Because exploitation requires a pre-existing local low-privileged account (PR:L) and is timing-dependent (AC:H), the most effective compensating control on CA hosts that cannot be patched immediately is to harden local logon: remove or disable unnecessary local accounts and groups, restrict interactive and Remote Desktop logon rights on CA servers to a small, audited set of PKI administrators (side effect: legitimate help-desk or monitoring logons must be redirected to jump hosts), and deny local logon for service accounts that do not require it. Tier-0 segmentation of the CA - isolating it from general-purpose workstation logons and enforcing privileged access workstations - removes the low-privileged local foothold the race condition needs (trade-off: added operational friction and possible certificate enrollment workflow changes). Also audit CA-related events and certificate template/permission changes for anomalous local activity while the patch window is open; note that disabling the AD CS role or the CA service would remove exposure outright but would break certificate issuance and validation across the domain, so it is only viable for decommissioning an unused CA.

Affected VersionsENISA

Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) 6.3.9600.0 <6.3.9600.23470
Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation) 10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.9376
Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation) 6.2.9200.0 <6.2.9200.26434
Windows Server 2012 6.2.9200.0 <6.2.9200.26434
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) 10.0.14393.0 <10.0.14393.9612
Windows 10 Version 1809 10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.9376
Windows Server 2012 R2 6.3.9600.0 <6.3.9600.23470
Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation) 10.0.26100.0 <10.0.26100.33650
Windows Server 2025 10.0.26100.0 <10.0.26100.33650
Windows Server 2019 10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.9376
Windows 10 Version 1607 10.0.14393.0 <10.0.14393.9612
Windows Server 2022 10.0.20348.0 <10.0.20348.5761
Windows Server 2016 10.0.14393.0 <10.0.14393.9612

Affected Packages

euvd windows_10_version_1607 fix: 10.0.14393.9612
euvd windows_10_version_1809 fix: 10.0.17763.9376
euvd windows_server_2012 fix: 6.2.9200.26434
euvd windows_server_2012_r2 fix: 6.3.9600.23470
euvd windows_server_2012_r2_server_core_installation fix: 6.3.9600.23470
euvd windows_server_2012_server_core_installation fix: 6.2.9200.26434
euvd windows_server_2016 fix: 10.0.14393.9612
euvd windows_server_2016_server_core_installation fix: 10.0.14393.9612
euvd windows_server_2019 fix: 10.0.17763.9376
euvd windows_server_2019_server_core_installation fix: 10.0.17763.9376
euvd windows_server_2022 fix: 10.0.20348.5761
euvd windows_server_2025 fix: 10.0.26100.33650
euvd windows_server_2025_server_core_installation fix: 10.0.26100.33650

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

Active Directory Certificate Services is the Windows Server role that issues and manages X.509 certificates for a domain's public key infrastructure - its CA service, certificate templates, request handling and enrollment endpoints run under privileged service accounts on domain-joined hosts. The defect is a classic concurrency flaw in the CWE-362 family: two or more execution paths touch a shared resource without proper synchronization, so an authorized-but-low-privileged local user can interleave operations within the resulting window and have a privileged operation performed on their behalf, escalating to a higher integrity level. The local attack vector (AV:L) with PR:L means the adversary must already be logged on with a low-privileged account, and AC:H reflects that the race window is small and the outcome probabilistic rather than deterministic, which is why the SSVC 'Automatable' answer is no and the technical impact is nevertheless rated total once the race is won. The EUVD affected-version data places the issue in the AD CS binaries shipped with Windows Server 2012/2012 R2, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2025 (including Server Core installations) as well as Windows 10 1607 and 1809, spanning builds 6.2.9200.x, 6.3.9600.x, 10.0.14393.x, 10.0.17763.x, 10.0.20348.x and 10.0.26100.x; hosts without the AD CS role installed are not exposed to this attack surface. No EPSS probability or KEV entry was supplied in the available data, so no actively-exploited signal can be asserted.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (microsoft) PRIMARY 7.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 7.0 HIGH

Local authenticated low-privileged user (AV:L/PR:L) must win a timing-sensitive race (AC:H) to gain SYSTEM, giving full C/I/A impact with no scope change.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).

CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Oct 13, 2026 - 20:20 EUVD
CVE Published
Oct 13, 2026 - 19:20 cve.org
HIGH 7.0

DescriptionCVE.org

Concurrent execution using shared resource with improper synchronization ('race condition') in Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Microsoft Windows Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) carries a high-severity local privilege escalation vulnerability that could let an authenticated local user on an AD CS host gain elevated control over certificate services. Because AD CS underpins identity and certificate trust, compromise of a certificate authority host could have organization-wide consequences, even though exploitation is local-only, timing-dependent, and no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Leadership should prioritize patching and access reduction for all AD CS hosts; patch available per vendor advisory.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 91% exploitable
Prevalence
High
AD CS role widely deployed across enterprise Windows Server Active Directory environments
Vendor Status
Publicly Disclosed:No
Exploited:No
Latest Software Release:Exploitation Unlikely
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

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.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Defer
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable
No
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

35
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +35
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

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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