Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-40949

Memory Safety in Absolute Secure Access ≤ 14.50

Memory Safety
Published
30 April 2026
Modified
05 May 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 6.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0010 1th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-40949 is a medium-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Absolute Secure Access. Its CVSS base score is 6.8 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

CVE-2026-40949 is a buffer overflow vulnerability in the Secure Access Windows client prior to 14.50. Attackers with local control of the Windows client can use it to trigger a denial of service.

CWE(s)
CWE-121

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Local buffer overflow (CWE-121) directly enables application exploitation to trigger DoS on the Windows client.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-33449Same product: Absolute Secure Access
CVE-2026-33447Same product: Absolute Secure Access
CVE-2026-40950Same product: Absolute Secure Access
CVE-2026-50527Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2026-50411Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-54983Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-50355Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-50368Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-50304Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-50695Same vendor: Microsoft

Affected Assets

absolute
secure access
≤ 14.50

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
  • CM-7 Least Functionality
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Directly requires timely patching or upgrading the Secure Access Windows client to version 14.50+ to eliminate the stack buffer overflow.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match
prevent

Limits privileges of local users and the client process, reducing the ability of an attacker with local access to trigger the DoS condition.

CM-7 Least Functionality partial match
prevent

Restricts installation or execution of the vulnerable client software to only the minimum required functionality, lowering exposure to the flaw.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
detects

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

A.8.32 Change management none match
none

Change-management gates can enforce security reviews that catch buffer issues.

References