CVE-2026-27912
Published: 14 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-27912 is a high-severity Improper Authorization (CWE-285) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2012. Its CVSS base score is 8.0 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 31.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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 AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-27912 is an improper authorization vulnerability (CWE-285) in Windows Kerberos that enables privilege escalation. It affects Windows systems using the Kerberos authentication component. Published on 2026-04-14T18:16:58.600, the vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.0 (AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for significant impact.
An authorized attacker with low privileges (PR:L) on an adjacent network (AV:A) can exploit this issue with low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation allows the attacker to elevate privileges, achieving high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts on the targeted system.
Microsoft's Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-27912 provides guidance on mitigation and available patches for this vulnerability.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-22453
Vulnerability details
Improper authorization in Windows Kerberos allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over an adjacent network.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Improper authorization vulnerability in Windows Kerberos directly enables privilege escalation from low-privileged access, mapping to exploitation of software vulnerabilities for higher privileges.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly remediates the improper authorization flaw in Windows Kerberos through timely identification, reporting, and patching, preventing privilege escalation.
Enforces approved authorizations for access to system resources, directly countering the improper authorization vulnerability in Kerberos that enables privilege escalation.
Applies least privilege to limit the privileges available for escalation via the Kerberos authorization flaw, reducing potential impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.