Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-55006

Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 … 2019

Published
14 July 2026
Modified
24 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 0.0021 12th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-55006 is a high-severity Insufficient Granularity of Access Control (CWE-1220) vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server. 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 12th 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.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Insufficient granularity of access control in Microsoft Exchange Server 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?

Direct local privilege escalation via insufficient access control granularity in Exchange Server.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-45504Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2026-55009Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2025-64666Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2025-53782Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2025-25007Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2025-25006Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2025-33051Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2026-45500Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2026-55005Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server
CVE-2025-59248Same product: Microsoft Exchange Server

Affected Assets

microsoft
exchange server
2016, 2019
microsoft
exchange server subscription edition
≤ 15.02.2562.045

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 4 hardening rules · 4 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

prevent

Directly enforces fine-grained authorization decisions that the CVE shows are insufficient, blocking unauthorized privilege elevation.

prevent

Requires assignment of only the minimum privileges needed, directly countering the overly broad access that enables local escalation in Exchange.

prevent

Enforces information flow rules between subjects and objects, providing additional granularity that can limit the scope of an authorized user's actions.

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
is degraded by

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.

degrades

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

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.

none

Limits use of privileged utilities; overly coarse access rules can still allow unauthorized utility access.

References