Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-50502

Microsoft Windows 10 21H2 ≤ 10.0.19044.7548

Published
14 July 2026
Modified
22 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0065 50th percentile
Risk Priority 59 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-2026-50502 is a high-severity Insufficient Granularity of Access Control (CWE-1220) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2. Its CVSS base score is 8.0 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Services File Permissions Weakness (T1574.010); ranked at the 50th 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-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Insufficient granularity of access control in Windows Event Logging Service allows an authorized attacker to execute code over a network.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1574.010 Services File Permissions Weakness Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the binaries used by services.
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1556 Modify Authentication Process Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-50405Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-62721Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-56155Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-49170Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809
CVE-2026-33825Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2024-26246Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-48581Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-35436Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2023-33127Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2026-40365Same vendor: Microsoft

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1607
≤ 10.0.14393.9339 · ≤ 10.0.14393.9339
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
≤ 10.0.28000.2525 · ≤ 10.0.28000.2525
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2016
≤ 10.0.14393.9339
microsoft
windows server 2019
≤ 10.0.17763.9020
+2 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V16.4.2
  • V8.4.2
  • V11.7.1
  • V13.2.4

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Least privilege explicitly demands that only the minimum necessary accesses are granted, eliminating the broad permissions that define this weakness.

AC-24 requires access decisions to be applied precisely and unambiguously to every request, structurally blocking insufficiently granular policies.

AC-3 requires enforcement of authorizations according to policy, directly compelling sufficiently granular rules so broad allowances cannot be introduced.

AC-4 enforces approved information flows with explicit source/destination rules, preventing overly coarse access policies from being deployed.

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.IR-01 mostly match
prevents

PR.IR-01's segmentation + zero-trust rules directly enforce minimum-necessary access at network boundaries, removing most instances of overly broad policy; CWE-1220 can still exist in application-layer or intra-segment controls that this single outcome does not address.

PR.PS-06 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-06's general SDLC practices can surface granularity issues during design/review (partial prevention) but do not specifically target access-control policy breadth, so they remove only part of CWE-1220's risk.

DE.AE-06 none match
degrades

CWE-1220 permits unauthorized access to sensitive assets but neither prevents nor impairs the delivery of adverse-event information to authorized recipients.

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.

prevents

Establishes the overarching access-control policy whose granularity directly determines whether the weakness exists.

prevents

Defines the assignment and review of access rights; insufficient granularity in those rights is the root of CWE-1220.

prevents

Specifies management of privileged access rights, where overly broad privileges are a common manifestation of the weakness.

prevents

Directly requires information-access restriction at the level of individual assets and operations, addressing the granularity gap.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225025 Local accounts with blank passwords must be restricted to prevent access from the network. prevents CWE-1220

References