Cyber Posture

CVE-2026-26125

High

Published: 05 March 2026

Published
05 March 2026
Modified
16 March 2026
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 8.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0009 25.8th percentile
Risk Priority 17 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-26125 is a high-severity Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Microsoft Payment Orchestrator Service. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 25.8th 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-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.
Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

prevent

Directly identifies and restricts critical actions performable without identification or authentication, addressing the missing authentication for the Payment Orchestrator Service critical function.

prevent

Requires unique identification and authentication for service users and processes, preventing unauthenticated exploitation of the Payment Orchestrator Service.

prevent

Enforces approved authorizations for access to system resources, blocking unauthenticated privilege elevation in the Payment Orchestrator Service.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
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?

Missing authentication (CWE-306) on a network-accessible Payment Orchestrator Service directly enables remote exploitation for privilege escalation (T1068) and can serve as an initial-access vector against a public-facing application (T1190).

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

NVD Description

Payment Orchestrator Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-26125 is a Payment Orchestrator Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability, published on 2026-03-05T23:16:20.160. It affects the Payment Orchestrator Service component and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.6 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N). The vulnerability is linked to CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Function) with no additional CWE details from NVD.

An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation enables privilege elevation, achieving high confidentiality impact within a changed scope, while integrity and availability remain unaffected.

The Microsoft Security Response Center provides an update guide with mitigation details at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-26125.

Details

CWE(s)

Affected Products

microsoft
payment orchestrator service
all versions

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-59246Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-26159Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2025-21355Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-20803Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-26160Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2025-21198Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2025-53792Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-40372Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2025-64655Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2025-21177Same vendor: Microsoft

References