CVE-2026-49798 | Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Use after free in Windows Kernel allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Published: 2026-07-14 Last update: 2026-07-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-49798 is rated High Risk (65.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.29%). Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2026-49798

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 2026-07-17 2.15% 2.29% +0.13%
2 2026-07-15 2.15%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-49798

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.3 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
2.5 6.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-49798

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-49798

GHSA-m293-66rr-7hmg · Severity: critical — Use after free in Windows Kernel allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-49798

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft windows_10_1607 < 10.0.14393.9339 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_10_1607 < 10.0.14393.9339 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_10_1809 < 10.0.17763.9020 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_10_1809 < 10.0.17763.9020 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_10_21h2 < 10.0.19044.7548 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_21h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:arm64:*
microsoft windows_10_21h2 < 10.0.19044.7548 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_21h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_10_21h2 < 10.0.19044.7548 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_21h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_10_22h2 < 10.0.19045.7548 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_22h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:arm64:*
microsoft windows_10_22h2 < 10.0.19045.7548 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_22h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_10_22h2 < 10.0.19045.7548 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_22h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
microsoft windows_11_24h2 < 10.0.26100.8875 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_24h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:arm64:*
microsoft windows_11_24h2 < 10.0.26100.8875 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_24h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_11_25h2 < 10.0.26200.8875 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_25h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:arm64:*
microsoft windows_11_25h2 < 10.0.26200.8875 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_25h2:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_11_26h1 < 10.0.28000.2269 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_26h1:*:*:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_11_26h1 < 10.0.28000.2525 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_11_26h1:*:*:*:*:*:*:arm64:*
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 < 10.0.14393.9339 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2019 < 10.0.17763.9020 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2022 < 10.0.20348.5386 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2022:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2025 < 10.0.26100.33158 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2025:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-49798

cvelogic Threat Intelligence