CVE-2026-26180
Published: 14 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-26180 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 18.0th 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 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-26180 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-122) in the Windows Kernel. Published on 2026-04-14, it has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). The flaw allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally by exploiting the buffer overflow condition within kernel memory handling.
An attacker with local access and low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation grants high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability effects, enabling the attacker to escalate to higher privilege levels, such as SYSTEM, from a standard user context.
Microsoft's update guide provides details on mitigation and patching for CVE-2026-26180, available at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-26180. Security practitioners should consult this advisory for specific patch deployment instructions and workarounds.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-22423
Vulnerability details
Heap-based buffer overflow in Windows Kernel allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Direct local kernel heap buffer overflow enabling privilege escalation from low-privileged user to SYSTEM (T1068).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly remediates the heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the Windows Kernel through timely application of vendor patches as specified in Microsoft's update guide.
Implements memory protections such as DEP and ASLR to prevent exploitation of heap buffer overflows by blocking unauthorized code execution in kernel memory.
Enforces least privilege to limit the initial access rights of local low-privilege attackers, reducing the feasibility and impact of privilege escalation via the kernel vulnerability.