Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-50378

Race Condition in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2 ≤ 10.0.19044.7548

Published
14 July 2026
Modified
22 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-50378 is a high-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) 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 10th 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Concurrent execution using shared resource with improper synchronization ('race condition') in Windows Key Guard allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Why these techniques?

Race condition (CWE-362) in Windows Key Guard directly enables local privilege escalation via exploitation of the vulnerability.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-50450Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-58628Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-42977Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-33839Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-27918Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-50356Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-32160Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-50384Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-54125Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-54112Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1809
≤ 10.0.17763.9020 · ≤ 10.0.17763.9020
microsoft
windows 10 21h2
≤ 10.0.19044.7548 · ≤ 10.0.19044.7548 · ≤ 10.0.19044.7548
microsoft
windows 10 22h2
≤ 10.0.19045.7548 · ≤ 10.0.19045.7548 · ≤ 10.0.19045.7548
microsoft
windows 11 24h2
≤ 10.0.26100.8875 · ≤ 10.0.26100.8875
microsoft
windows 11 25h2
≤ 10.0.26200.8875 · ≤ 10.0.26200.8875
microsoft
windows 11 26h1
≤ 10.0.28000.2269 · ≤ 10.0.28000.2525
microsoft
windows server 2019
≤ 10.0.17763.9020
microsoft
windows server 2022
≤ 10.0.20348.5386
microsoft
windows server 2025
≤ 10.0.26100.33158

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
  • AC-25 Reference Monitor
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.4.2
  • V10.4.5
  • V15.1.3
  • V15.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces access decisions in Key Guard; a race condition in this mechanism allows unauthorized privilege elevation that AC-3 is intended to block.

prevent

Limits the initial rights of the authorized attacker, reducing the impact and feasibility of escalating privileges via the race condition.

prevent

Requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor whose properties are violated by the improper synchronization in Key Guard.

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 SDLC practices directly require proper synchronization primitives and concurrency testing that prevent race conditions.

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.

detects

Security testing can detect race conditions, but does not prevent them at design or coding time.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates concurrency controls and synchronization primitives that directly prevent race conditions.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify thread-safety and locking rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require proper synchronization and resource isolation, addressing the root cause of CWE-362.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe concurrent access patterns and mandate atomic operations or locks.

none

Change management reduces introduction of concurrency bugs during updates, yet does not address the weakness itself.

References