CVE-2026-27924
Published: 14 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-27924 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) 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-2026-27924 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the Desktop Window Manager, a core component of Microsoft Windows. Published on 2026-04-14, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (High), with vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating high impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
A local attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation enables local privilege escalation, allowing the attacker to achieve high-level impacts on system confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Mitigation details are available in the Microsoft Security Response Center advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-27924.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-22473
Vulnerability details
Use after free in Desktop Window Manager allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Use-after-free in Desktop Window Manager directly enables local privilege escalation via software vulnerability exploitation (T1068).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Flaw remediation requires timely patching of the specific use-after-free vulnerability in Desktop Window Manager as detailed in the Microsoft advisory.
Memory protection mechanisms like ASLR, DEP, and control-flow guard directly and comprehensively mitigate use-after-free exploitation in core components such as Desktop Window Manager.
Least privilege limits the initial access and potential damage from low-privileged local attackers attempting privilege escalation via the UAF vulnerability.