CVE-2026-50406: CWE-416: Use After Free in Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2
Use after free in Windows Backup Engine allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2026-50406, involves a use-after-free condition in the Windows Backup Engine of Windows 10 Version 21H2 (build 10.0.19044.0). Exploitation requires local access with limited privileges and no user interaction. Successful exploitation could result in elevation of privileges, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system. Microsoft has published an official fix to remediate this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
An authorized local attacker could exploit this use-after-free vulnerability to elevate their privileges on the affected Windows 10 system. This could lead to full system compromise, including unauthorized access to sensitive data and disruption of system operations.
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-2026-50406 to remediate this vulnerability.
CVE-2026-50406: CWE-416: Use After Free in Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2
Description
Use after free in Windows Backup Engine allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.0high
Affected software
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability, identified as CVE-2026-50406, involves a use-after-free condition in the Windows Backup Engine of Windows 10 Version 21H2 (build 10.0.19044.0). Exploitation requires local access with limited privileges and no user interaction. Successful exploitation could result in elevation of privileges, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system. Microsoft has published an official fix to remediate this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
An authorized local attacker could exploit this use-after-free vulnerability to elevate their privileges on the affected Windows 10 system. This could lead to full system compromise, including unauthorized access to sensitive data and disruption of system operations.
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-2026-50406 to remediate this vulnerability.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- microsoft
- Date Reserved
- 2026-06-04T18:56:53.259Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- official-fix
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-50406","vendor":"Microsoft"}]
Threat ID: 6a56769a68715ace43f090e9
Added to database: 07/14/2026, 17:49:14 UTC
Last enriched: 08/13/2026, 14:49:02 UTC
Last updated: 08/27/2026, 22:52:12 UTC
Views: 67
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