CVE-2026-20852: CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment in Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607
Incorrect privilege assignment in Windows Hello allows an unauthorized attacker to perform tampering locally.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability involves incorrect privilege assignment in Windows Hello on Windows 10 Version 1607 (build 10.0.14393.0). It allows an attacker with local access and no privileges to tamper with the system, potentially leading to high confidentiality and integrity impact. The vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2026-20852 and is tracked under CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment). Microsoft has released an official fix to address this issue.
Potential Impact
An unauthorized local attacker can exploit this vulnerability to perform tampering actions that compromise system confidentiality and integrity. There is no impact on availability. The vulnerability requires local access and no user interaction, making it a significant risk on affected systems if unpatched.
Mitigation Recommendations
An official fix is available from Microsoft. Users and administrators should apply the security update provided in the Microsoft advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-20852 to remediate this vulnerability. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation depends on patching the affected Windows 10 Version 1607 systems.
CVE-2026-20852: CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment in Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607
Description
Incorrect privilege assignment in Windows Hello allows an unauthorized attacker to perform tampering locally.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.7high
Affected software
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability involves incorrect privilege assignment in Windows Hello on Windows 10 Version 1607 (build 10.0.14393.0). It allows an attacker with local access and no privileges to tamper with the system, potentially leading to high confidentiality and integrity impact. The vulnerability has been assigned CVE-2026-20852 and is tracked under CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment). Microsoft has released an official fix to address this issue.
Potential Impact
An unauthorized local attacker can exploit this vulnerability to perform tampering actions that compromise system confidentiality and integrity. There is no impact on availability. The vulnerability requires local access and no user interaction, making it a significant risk on affected systems if unpatched.
Mitigation Recommendations
An official fix is available from Microsoft. Users and administrators should apply the security update provided in the Microsoft advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-20852 to remediate this vulnerability. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation depends on patching the affected Windows 10 Version 1607 systems.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- microsoft
- Date Reserved
- 2025-12-03T05:54:20.377Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- official-fix
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-20852","vendor":"Microsoft"}]
Threat ID: 69668ae0a60475309f9ae0f7
Added to database: 01/13/2026, 18:11:44 UTC
Last enriched: 07/30/2026, 23:45:12 UTC
Last updated: 09/10/2026, 19:36:52 UTC
Views: 182
Community Reviews
0 reviewsCrowdsource mitigation strategies, share intel context, and vote on the most helpful responses. Sign in to add your voice and help keep defenders ahead.
Want to contribute mitigation steps or threat intel context? Sign in or create an account to join the community discussion.
Actions
Updates to AI analysis require Pro Console access. Upgrade inside Console → Billing.
External Links
Need more coverage?
Upgrade to Pro Console for AI refresh and higher limits.
For incident response and remediation, OffSeq services can help resolve threats faster.
Latest Threats
Check if your credentials are on the dark web
Instant breach scanning across billions of leaked records. Free tier available.