Skip to main content

Windows Kerberos EUVDEUVD-2026-99965

| CVE-2026-83720 HIGH
Use After Free (CWE-416)
2026-10-13 secure@microsoft.com GHSA-fjfx-pc2m-m679
7.0
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: microsoft
View

Attack ChainAIDerived

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

  1. Access
    Obtain low-privileged local access
  2. Delivery
    Launch crafted local trigger program
  3. Exploit
    Win use-after-free race in Kerberos
  4. Execution
    Corrupt freed object memory
  5. Impact
    Execute code as SYSTEM

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires the attacker to already have local, authenticated low-privileged code execution on an affected Windows 11 26H1 system (build 10.0.28000.0 before 10.0.28000.3231) and to reliably trigger and win a use-after-free race condition in the Kerberos component - the high attack complexity (AC:H) reflects timing/race prerequisites that limit reliable exploitation. Limiting factors: no remote vector (local only), prior low-privilege access is required, no user interaction of a victim is needed, and the condition is non-trivial to hit; exploitation is bounded to the affected 26H1 builds and mitigated by the available Microsoft patch.

Impact

This is a moderate-priority local privilege escalation rather than an urgent emergency. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 7.0 High) requires local access, already-held low privileges, and a high-complexity condition - consistent with a use-after-free (CWE-416) race that an attacker must win reliably. All real-world exploitation signals point low: there is no EPSS score provided, no CISA KEV listing, and no public POC, so the correct status is no public exploit identified at time of analysis. CISA's SSVC decision framework reinforces this - Exploitation: none and Automatable: no - while rating Technical Impact: total, meaning that IF exploited the attacker gains full SYSTEM-level control, which matches the C:H/I:H/A:H impact. The signals are therefore internally consistent (high impact, low likelihood): a genuine but not drop-everything issue, typically chained after initial access rather than used as an entry point. One caveat: the input Tags include 'Denial Of Service', which conflicts with the description and vector (this is an elevation-of-privilege flaw with full CIA impact, not a DoS) - the tag appears mislabeled and should not drive triage.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who already has a low-privileged foothold on a Windows 11 26H1 host (e.g., via phishing or a standard user account) runs a crafted local program that triggers a use-after-free in the Kerberos component by racing object allocation and free. Winning the race (reflected in AC:H) lets them corrupt kernel/service memory and execute code at SYSTEM, completing local privilege escalation. No public exploit code is known at time of analysis, so weaponization would require original development.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

Alert me

AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 14, 2026

Local privilege escalation in Windows Kerberos allows an authenticated attacker who already holds low-privileged code execution on a Windows 11 26H1 host (builds 10.0.28000.0 up to but not including 10.0.28000.3231) to elevate to a higher integrity level, with high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the affected machine. The root cause is a use-after-free that must be triggered and won as a race, so the high attack complexity (AC:H) materially limits reliable exploitation; there is no remote vector and no victim user interaction is required. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, no exploitation has been observed (CISA SSVC records Exploitation: none, Automatable: no), and a vendor patch is available.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: Microsoft has published an update addressing CVE-2026-83720, and affected Windows 11 26H1 systems should be updated so the build reaches 10.0.28000.3231 or later; the exact package and deployment guidance are in the Microsoft Security Update Guide entry at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-83720, with the NVD record at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-83720 available for tracking. Because the vulnerability cannot be reached remotely and requires the attacker to already run low-privileged code locally, the practical compensating controls focus on shrinking and monitoring that foothold: enforce least privilege and remove unnecessary local administrative or interactive logon rights, and apply WDAC or AppLocker allowlisting to restrict execution of untrusted binaries, accepting the operational overhead of maintaining allowlist rules. Enabling LSASS protection (RunAsPPL) or Credential Guard raises the bar against post-exploitation tampering with the Kerberos/LSA code path, but carries a real trade-off since it can break third-party authentication packages, legacy drivers, and some debugging or backup tooling, so it should be piloted before broad rollout. Disabling Kerberos entirely is not a viable mitigation in Active Directory environments, and monitoring should focus on anomalous lsass.exe crashes, unexpected writes to kerberos.dll, and unusual token or integrity-level elevation events, with the caveat that detection of a race-condition UAF is inherently noisy and should be tuned before being used as a blocking control.

Affected VersionsENISA

Windows 11 version 26H1 10.0.28000.0 <10.0.28000.3231

Affected Packages

euvd windows_11_version_26h1 fix: 10.0.28000.3231

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

Kerberos is the primary network authentication protocol in Windows, implemented in kerberos.dll and consumed by the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (lsass.exe) for ticket acquisition, renewal, and validation. This issue is a CWE-416 use-after-free: a memory object associated with Kerberos processing is released while a reference to it remains live, so a subsequent access reads or writes freed heap memory. In a security-critical process such as lsass, that class of defect can be shaped into memory corruption and, in the worst case, arbitrary code execution in the context of the process handling the ticket, which is why the CVSS sub-scores are C:H/I:H/A:H with Scope unchanged (S:U). The assigned vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H encodes the key constraints: the attack path is local only, it requires the attacker to already possess low-privileged authenticated code execution (PR:L), no victim interaction is needed (UI:N), and the high complexity score reflects the timing/race prerequisites needed to reliably win the use-after-free. CISA's SSVC decision point rates technical impact as total while exploitation and automatability are both negative, consistent with a repeatable but non-trivial local escalation rather than a broadly exploitable flaw.

Know when Windows 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

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-only use-after-free needing a won race (AV:L, AC:H) from an existing low-privileged account (PR:L), yielding SYSTEM-level control with full CIA impact and 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

Use after free in Windows Kerberos allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Windows 11 26H1 endpoints are affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Kerberos that allows an attacker with an existing foothold to elevate to higher integrity levels, potentially compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the machine. Although exploitation is complex and no public exploit code exists, the flaw enables full host compromise from a low-privileged starting point, making timely patching critical to prevent lateral movement and data exfiltration. Leadership should prioritize remediation of affected endpoints to reduce organizational risk.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 85% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
Windows is among the most widely deployed OS platforms worldwide
Vendor Status
Publicly Disclosed:No
Exploited:No
Latest Software Release:Exploitation Less Likely
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 0.3%
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

Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

CVE-2025-52691 CRITICAL POC
10.0 Dec 29

Unauthenticated remote code execution in SmarterTools SmarterMail lets an attacker upload arbitrary files to any locatio

CVE-2019-0803 HIGH POC
7.8 Apr 09

Windows Win32k fails to properly handle objects in memory, allowing local privilege escalation exploited in the wild in

CVE-2020-1472 MEDIUM POC
5.5 Aug 17

A privilege escalation vulnerability (CVSS 5.5). Risk factors: actively exploited (KEV-listed), EPSS 94% exploitation pr

CVE-2025-33053 HIGH POC
8.8 Jun 10

Windows Internet Shortcut Files (.url) contain an external control vulnerability (CVE-2025-33053, CVSS 8.8) that enables

CVE-2025-33073 HIGH POC
8.8 Jun 10

Windows SMB contains an improper access control vulnerability (CVE-2025-33073, CVSS 8.8) enabling authenticated attacker

CVE-2025-13315 CRITICAL POC
9.3 Nov 19

Twonky Server 8.5.2 on Linux and Windows allows unauthenticated access to the admin log file through a web service API b

CVE-2013-10047 CRITICAL POC
9.3 Aug 01

An unrestricted file upload vulnerability exists in MiniWeb HTTP Server <= Build 300 that allows unauthenticated remote

CVE-2012-10030 CRITICAL POC
9.3 Aug 05

FreeFloat FTP Server contains multiple critical design flaws that allow unauthenticated remote attackers to upload arbit

CVE-2025-34101 CRITICAL POC
9.3 Jul 10

Serviio Media Server versions 1.4 through 1.8 on Windows contain an unauthenticated command injection in the /rest/actio

CVE-2025-13316 HIGH POC
8.2 Nov 19

Twonky Server 8.5.2 uses hard-coded cryptographic keys for encrypting the administrator password. Combined with the cred

CVE-2025-34095 CRITICAL POC
9.3 Jul 10

Mako Server versions 2.5 and 2.6 contain an unauthenticated OS command injection via the tutorial interface at examples/

CVE-2025-11953 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Nov 03

React Native Metro Development Server binds to external interfaces by default and contains an OS command injection endpo

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy