Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-41089

Memory Safety in Microsoft Windows Server 2012 r2

High EPSSMemory Safety
Published
12 May 2026
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.80 99.6th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-41089 is a critical-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2012. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation of Remote Services (T1210); ranked in the top 0.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Stack-based buffer overflow in Windows Netlogon allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.

CWE(s)
CWE-121

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

Remote stack-based buffer overflow enabling arbitrary code execution over the network in the Netlogon service directly maps to exploitation of remote services.

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

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Accessconfidence: HIGH
Remote stack-based buffer overflow in Netlogon service enables unauthenticated remote code execution over the network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalationconfidence: HIGH
Exploitation of the Netlogon vulnerability grants elevated privileges on the target system.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movementconfidence: HIGH
Direct exploitation of a remote Windows service (Netlogon) for lateral movement or remote code execution.
attack.mitre.org →
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-45648Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
CVE-2024-43549Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2024-30083Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2026-50304Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2023-35322Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2025-26688Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2025-54916Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2025-27481Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2025-54099Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012
CVE-2026-50400Same product: Microsoft Windows Server 2012

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2016
≤ 10.0.14393.9140
microsoft
windows server 2019
≤ 10.0.17763.8755
microsoft
windows server 2022
≤ 10.0.20348.5074
microsoft
windows server 2022 23h2
≤ 10.0.25398.2330
microsoft
windows server 2025
≤ 10.0.26100.32772

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
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-16 Memory Protection good match
prevent

Memory protection mechanisms (ASLR, DEP, stack canaries) directly block exploitation of the stack-based buffer overflow in Netlogon.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match
prevent

Strict input validation on Netlogon RPC/network messages would reject oversized or malformed data before it overflows the stack buffer.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Timely application of the vendor patch for CVE-2026-41089 eliminates the vulnerable Netlogon code path entirely.

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