CVE-2026-20860 | Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Access of resource using incompatible type ('type confusion') in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Published: 2026-01-13 Last update: 2026-01-15 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-20860 is rated Moderate Risk (54/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.47%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-20860

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-15 0.33% 0.47% +0.15%
2 2026-04-21 0.07% 0.33% +0.25%
3 2026-02-18 0.07%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-20860

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-20860

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-20860

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft windows_10_1607 < 10.0.14393.8783 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_10_1607 < 10.0.14393.8783 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_10_1809 < 10.0.17763.8276 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_10_1809 < 10.0.17763.8276 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_10_21h2 < 10.0.19044.6809 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_21h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_10_22h2 < 10.0.19045.6809 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_22h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_11_23h2 < 10.0.22631.6491 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_23h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_11_24h2 < 10.0.26100.7623 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_24h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_11_25h2 < 10.0.26200.7623 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_25h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_server_2012 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2012 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2016 < 10.0.14393.8783 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2019 < 10.0.17763.8276 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2022 < 10.0.20348.4648 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2022:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2022_23h2 < 10.0.25398.2092 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2022_23h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2025 < 10.0.26100.32230 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2025:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-20860

cvelogic Threat Intelligence