Cyber Posture

CVE-2026-21535

High

Published: 19 February 2026

Published
19 February 2026
Modified
20 February 2026
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 8.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0009 25.4th percentile
Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-21535 is a high-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Microsoft Teams. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 25.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AU-13 (Monitoring for Information Disclosure).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.
Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

prevent

AC-3 requires enforcement of approved authorizations for logical access, directly mitigating the improper access control in Microsoft Teams that enables unauthorized network-based information disclosure.

prevent

SI-2 mandates timely identification, reporting, and correction of system flaws, addressing the root cause of this CVE through patching as guided by the MSRC advisory.

detect

AU-13 requires monitoring information systems for unauthorized disclosure, enabling detection of exploitation attempts resulting in high-impact confidentiality loss over the network.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Why these techniques?

Direct remote exploitation of public-facing Microsoft Teams application via improper access control for unauthorized information disclosure.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

Improper access control in Microsoft Teams allows an unauthorized attacker to disclose information over a network.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-21535 is an improper access control vulnerability in Microsoft Teams that enables an unauthorized attacker to disclose information over a network. Published on 2026-02-19, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N) and maps to CWE-284.

The vulnerability can be exploited by any unauthorized attacker with network access, requiring low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction. Successful exploitation results in high-impact confidentiality loss through information disclosure, alongside low-impact integrity modification, but no availability disruption.

Mitigation guidance is available in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-21535.

Details

CWE(s)

Affected Products

microsoft
teams
all versions

CVEs Like This One

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References