Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessObtain low-privileged local account
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DeliveryInteract with Projected File System interface
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ExploitWin race / bypass weak authentication check
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ExecutionExecute code at elevated privilege
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ImpactFull control of host (SYSTEM)
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Strong authentication
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires the attacker to already have a local, authenticated low-privileged session on the affected Windows host (PR:L, AV:L) and to interact with the Windows Projected File System (ProjFS) feature whose weak authentication check (CWE-1390) is abused to elevate privileges. Key limiting factor: AC:H indicates a meaningful barrier - most likely a race condition or specific local timing/state that the attacker must win, which SSVC confirms as Automatable=no (not reliably scriptable at scale). No user interaction is needed (UI:N), but the mandatory prior local foothold and the high-complexity precondition substantially narrow realistic exploitation; there is no remote or unauthenticated path. |
| Impact | Signals here are mixed but internally consistent toward a moderate, non-urgent priority. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.0 (High) driven entirely by total technical impact (C:H/I:H/A:H), but the exploitability metrics temper it sharply: AV:L requires local access, AC:H indicates a race condition or other hard-to-win precondition, and PR:L means the attacker must already be an authenticated low-privileged user. These align with CISA's SSVC determination: Exploitation=none (no observed or public exploitation), Automatable=no (consistent with AC:H - cannot be reliably scripted at scale), and Technical Impact=total (consistent with C/I/A all High). There is no CISA KEV listing and no POC referenced, so this is not evidence of active exploitation. Net: a genuine local elevation-of-privilege flaw worth patching in normal cycles, but not a drop-everything emergency - it is a high-impact-but-hard-to-exploit, authenticated-local issue rather than a wormable remote threat. Note one metadata conflict: the input Tags label this 'Information Disclosure,' but the description and CWE-1390 (Weak Authentication) describe a privilege-escalation flaw with full C/I/A impact - treat the 'Information Disclosure' categorization as unreliable. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A low-privileged authenticated user already running code on a Windows host abuses the weak authentication in the Projected File System (ProjFS) component, winning a timing/complexity-dependent condition to escalate to higher (likely SYSTEM) privileges. Because AC:H applies, the attacker likely needs multiple attempts or a specific local race to succeed. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, so real-world use would require an attacker to independently develop the technique. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 14, 2026
Local privilege escalation in the Windows Projected File System (ProjFS) allows an authenticated low-privileged user who already holds a session on a vulnerable Windows host to gain elevated privileges by abusing a weak authentication check (CWE-1390) in the projected file system component. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 7.0) confirms a local attack path requiring a prior foothold, no user interaction, and a high-complexity precondition - most plausibly a race condition or specific local timing/state the attacker must win - so there is no remote or unauthenticated route, and CISA's SSVC scoring explicitly rates Automation as "no" and Exploitation as "none". No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and the flaw is not listed in CISA KEV, meaning the practical risk is moderate rather than urgent; a vendor patch is available and all affected Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server builds listed by EUVD should be updated to the specified fixed build levels.
RemediationAI
Apply the Microsoft update referenced by the MSRC advisory for CVE-2026-85328 (https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-85328); patch availability is confirmed by the vendor, and the fixed servicing levels are those at or above the EUVD-listed builds for each edition - Windows 11 24H2 10.0.26100.9711, Windows 11 25H2 10.0.26200.9711, Windows 11 26H1 10.0.28000.3231, Windows 11 26H2 10.0.26300.9711, Windows 11 23H2 10.0.22631.7652, Windows 10 1809 / Server 2019 10.0.17763.9376, Windows 10 21H2 and 22H2 10.0.19044.7807, Windows Server 2022 10.0.20348.5761, and Windows Server 2025 10.0.26100.33650. Until patching is complete, the most effective compensating control is to reduce the population of local interactive logon accounts on sensitive hosts, since the vulnerability requires a local authenticated session (PR:L, AV:L) and cannot be reached remotely - enforcing least privilege, removing unnecessary local administrator memberships, and restricting RDP/interactive logon to trusted operators directly removes the attacker's foothold, at the cost of operational convenience for support and administrative workflows. Where the Projected File System provider is not required (for example, on servers that do not use VFS for Git, container image layering, or third-party ProjFS-based providers), the optional ProjFS feature can be uninstalled or left disabled to remove the attack surface entirely; the trade-off is that dependent applications and developer tooling that rely on projected file systems will stop functioning and require re-enabling the feature before redeployment. Note that AC:H means exploitation depends on winning a narrow local timing/state condition rather than being reliably automatable (SSVC Automatable=no), so generic network segmentation and egress filtering do not address this vector - host-local privilege controls, application allowlisting to prevent attacker-controlled ProjFS provider binaries from running, and auditing of local privilege-escalation-adjacent events are the compensating measures with the most direct bearing on this flaw.
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 Windows Projected File System (ProjFS) is a user-mode API and kernel-supported feature that lets an application act as a file system provider, projecting a virtualized, hierarchical tree of files and directories into a directory on a normal NTFS volume; it is the mechanism behind features such as VFS for Git (GVFS) and several container and enterprise file-sync scenarios. The root cause is classified as CWE-1390 (Weak Authentication): the component's verification of caller identity or of the authorization context for a ProjFS operation is insufficient, so a caller who is already authorized at a low privilege level can have an operation accepted in a context that should require higher privilege, producing a local elevation of privilege. The CVSS vector places the attack local (AV:L) with low privileges required (PR:L) and no user interaction (UI:N), while the high attack complexity (AC:H) indicates the attacker must satisfy a narrow precondition - a timing window or specific local state - rather than being able to trigger the condition deterministically; scope is unchanged (S:U) because the vulnerable component and the impacted component are the same security authority, and the impact is total across confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The EUVD entry (EUVD-2026-99467) enumerates the affected Windows servicing builds, indicating this is a Windows platform component shipped with the operating system rather than a standalone third-party product. Tags supplied by Microsoft classify the issue as Information Disclosure, which is consistent with the weak authentication primitive leaking or granting access to data outside the caller's intended privilege boundary even though the scored impact includes integrity and availability.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local privilege escalation by an already-authenticated low-priv user (AV:L/PR:L); AC:H reflects the race/complexity implied by SSVC Automatable=no; full C/I/A from total technical impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (microsoft).
CVSS VectorVendor: microsoft
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Weak authentication in Windows Projected File System allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
Executive ViewAI
A high-severity local privilege escalation flaw in the Windows Projected File System (ProjFS) component affects Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server builds, allowing an authenticated user who already holds a session on a vulnerable host to elevate to higher privileges. Because exploitation requires an existing local foothold, the exposure is not a remote or unauthenticated attack path, but any single compromised or shared workstation or server can be turned into an administrative foothold, widening lateral-movement and data-access risk across the estate. Leadership should treat this as a routine but mandatory patch-management priority for endpoint and server fleets rather than an emergency, since no public exploit code or active exploitation has been identified.
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
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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EUVD-2026-99467
GHSA-x3jr-74cm-2vrf
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB