CVE-2026-26181: CWE-416: Use After Free in Microsoft Windows 11 version 22H3
Use after free in Microsoft Brokering File System allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability (CVE-2026-26181) involves a use-after-free condition in the Microsoft Brokering File System on Windows 11 version 22H3 (build 10.0.22631.0). Exploitation requires local access with some privileges and does not require user interaction. Successful exploitation could lead to full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact by elevating privileges locally. Microsoft has released an official patch to remediate this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
An authorized local attacker can exploit this use-after-free vulnerability to elevate their privileges on the affected Windows 11 system. This could allow the attacker to execute code with higher privileges, potentially leading to full system compromise including confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
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-2026-26181 to remediate this vulnerability.
CVE-2026-26181: CWE-416: Use After Free in Microsoft Windows 11 version 22H3
Description
Use after free in Microsoft Brokering File System allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.8high
Affected software
Microsoft
Windows 11 version 22H3
Microsoft
Windows 11 Version 23H2
Microsoft
Windows 11 Version 24H2
Microsoft
Windows 11 Version 25H2
Microsoft
Windows 11 version 26H1
Microsoft
Windows Server 2022, 23H2 Edition (Server Core installation)
Microsoft
Windows Server 2025
Microsoft
Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability (CVE-2026-26181) involves a use-after-free condition in the Microsoft Brokering File System on Windows 11 version 22H3 (build 10.0.22631.0). Exploitation requires local access with some privileges and does not require user interaction. Successful exploitation could lead to full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact by elevating privileges locally. Microsoft has released an official patch to remediate this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
An authorized local attacker can exploit this use-after-free vulnerability to elevate their privileges on the affected Windows 11 system. This could allow the attacker to execute code with higher privileges, potentially leading to full system compromise including confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
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-2026-26181 to remediate this vulnerability.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- microsoft
- Date Reserved
- 2026-02-11T18:33:57.777Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- official-fix
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-26181","vendor":"Microsoft"}]
Threat ID: 69de7a1d82d89c981fd6a71c
Added to database: 04/14/2026, 17:32:13 UTC
Last enriched: 08/15/2026, 13:56:46 UTC
Last updated: 09/14/2026, 22:01:33 UTC
Views: 126
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