Security Resilience

CVE-2026-42981

Memory Safety in Microsoft Windows 11 23H2 ≤ 10.0.22631.7219

Memory Safety
Published
09 June 2026
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0071 53th percentile
Risk Priority 61 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-42981 is a high-severity Wrap or Wraparound (CWE-191) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 11 23H2. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 47% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Integer underflow (wrap or wraparound) in Windows Performance Monitor allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.

CWE(s)
CWE-191

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
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 →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-27907Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-62696Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-69687Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-71352Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-69269Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-40397Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-83869Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-96844Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2
CVE-2026-54982Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2025-62567Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 23H2

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 11 23h2
≤ 10.0.22631.7219 · ≤ 10.0.22631.7219
microsoft
windows 11 24h2
≤ 10.0.26100.8655 · ≤ 10.0.26100.8655
microsoft
windows 11 25h2
≤ 10.0.26200.8655 · ≤ 10.0.26200.8655
microsoft
windows 11 26h1
≤ 10.0.28000.2269 · ≤ 10.0.28000.2269
microsoft
windows server 2022
≤ 10.0.20348.5256
microsoft
windows server 2025
≤ 10.0.26100.32995

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and static/dynamic analysis directly find integer underflow defects before code is released.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles require use of safe arithmetic constructs or language features that structurally eliminate integer underflow during subtraction.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation can reject or sanitize values that would cause a subtraction to underflow the representable range.

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 full match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent integer underflow defects via input validation, bounds checking, and static analysis.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability scanning and code analysis can surface underflow flaws after they are introduced.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching can remediate known underflow bugs once they are discovered in deployed software.

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
finds

Security testing in development catches integer underflow defects before release.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe safe integer handling and overflow/underflow prevention.

References