CVE-2026-20848
Published: 13 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-20848 is a high-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1607. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 16.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Accurate timestamps from internal clocks enable detection of race conditions by providing reliable event ordering in audit logs.
Coordination of concurrent security activities reduces the probability that shared resources will be accessed simultaneously without proper synchronization.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Race condition in Windows SMB Server directly enables remote privilege escalation by an authenticated low-privileged attacker (T1068).
NVD Description
Concurrent execution using shared resource with improper synchronization ('race condition') in Windows SMB Server allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-20848 is a race condition vulnerability (CWE-362) stemming from concurrent execution using a shared resource with improper synchronization in the Windows SMB Server. Published on 2026-01-13, it enables an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
The vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker with low privileges (PR:L) over the network (AV:N), though it demands high attack complexity (AC:H) and requires no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation results in high impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) within an unchanged scope (S:U), allowing the attacker to escalate privileges on the affected system.
Mitigation details are available in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-20848.
Details
- CWE(s)