high Known exploitedREV. 01

CVE-2026-41091Microsoft Defender — link following to local privilege escalation

Microsoft Defender follows a link where it should have checked the target first, so a user already signed in on the machine can point it at a file of their choosing and end up with full local privileges.

YOUR NEXT MOVE

Install the Microsoft update for this CVE now, and confirm the Defender platform version actually advanced on each host rather than trusting the rollout.

Read the risk

THE VITAL STATS
CVSS score
7.8/ 10
CVSS v3.1
EPSS probability
8%
Likelihood of exploitation
Attack complexity
Low
Conditions needed to exploit
Known exploited
Yes — CISA KEV
CVE published
2026-05-20
Added to KEV
2026-05-20
Exploit published
Not recorded
Confidence
high
Kill chain
privilege escalation
MITRE ATT&CK
T1068
Severity
high

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attacker needsA local account on the machine, already signed in; no administrative rights needed.

Behind the card

4 REFERENCES
Field-level provenanceTRACE THE SOURCES +

Which source supports each field, when it was retrieved, and who extracted it.

FieldsSourceRetrievedExtractorConfidence
cvss, exploitation.attack_complexity, exploitation.exploit_available, references, published_atnvd.nist.gov2026-09-24scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
exploitation.known_exploited, exploitation.kev_addedcisa.gov2026-09-24scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
epssapi.first.org2026-09-24scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
title, summary, severity, remediation, mitre_attack, kill_chain, recommended_action, confidence, tags, exploitation.prerequisitesnvd.nist.gov2026-09-24claude-codehigh

Printing history

THE RECORD
  1. r1Initial base card

First printing. This card has not been reprinted since publication.

crds:cve-2026-41091 · CRDS 0.1 · Issued 2026-09-24