Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-57097

Microsoft Windows 10 21H2 ≤ 10.0.19044.7548

Published
14 July 2026
Modified
22 July 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0032 25th percentile
Risk Priority 44 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-57097 is a medium-severity Untrusted Search Path (CWE-426) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 21H2. Its CVSS base score is 6.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique DLL (T1574.001); ranked at the 25th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A08:2025 Software or Data Integrity Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Untrusted search path in Microsoft XML allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature with a physical attack.

CWE(s)
CWE-426

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1574.001 DLL Stealth
Adversaries may abuse dynamic-link library files (DLLs) in order to achieve persistence, escalate privileges, and evade defenses.
attack.mitre.org →
Why these techniques?

CWE-426 untrusted search path in Microsoft XML directly enables DLL search order hijacking (T1574.001) when a malicious binary is placed via physical access.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-25190Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-47648Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-21508Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2023-41766Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2026-42830Same vendor: Microsoft
CVE-2023-36393Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2023-36003Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2025-60718Same product: Microsoft Windows 11 24H2
CVE-2024-20693Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607
CVE-2023-35343Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1809

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

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-05 full match
prevents

Preventing execution of unauthorized code directly blocks the malicious binaries that an untrusted search path would load.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices include avoiding or sanitizing externally influenced search paths in application code.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can enforce safe search paths and restrict environment variables that enable the weakness.

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 can discover search-path issues but does not itself prevent them in production code.

A.8.19 Installation of software on operational systems partial match
degrades

Restricting software installation reduces the chance that untrusted binaries or libraries are placed in search paths.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include hard-coded or validated search paths and avoiding reliance on untrusted directories.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards require absolute paths or integrity-checked search paths, directly mitigating CWE-426.

A.8.32 Change management none match
none

Change-management processes can enforce review of path-handling changes, indirectly lowering risk.

References