high Known exploitedREV. 01
CVE-2026-81963Windows Update Stack — Link Following to Local Privilege Escalation
The Windows Update Stack follows file links without checking where they point, so a local user with a low-privilege account can redirect a privileged file operation and gain full control of the machine. Exploited in the wild.
Read the risk
THE VITAL STATS- CVSS score
- 7.8/ 10 CVSS v3.1
- EPSS probability
- 1% Likelihood of exploitation
- Attack complexity
- Low Conditions needed to exploit
- Known exploited
- Yes — CISA KEV
- CVE published
- 2026-09-08
- Added to KEV
- 2026-09-08
- 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 needsLocal access to the target Windows system with a low-privilege user account
Behind the card
3 REFERENCES- 01CVE recordNVD recordnvd.nist.gov
- 02CISACISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogcisa.gov
- 03Vendor advisorymsrc.microsoft.commsrc.microsoft.com
Field-level provenanceTRACE THE SOURCES +
Which source supports each field, when it was retrieved, and who extracted it.
| Fields | Source | Retrieved | Extractor | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cvss, exploitation.attack_complexity, exploitation.exploit_available, references, published_at | nvd.nist.gov | 2026-09-20 | scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1 | high |
| exploitation.known_exploited, exploitation.kev_added | cisa.gov | 2026-09-20 | scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1 | high |
| epss | api.first.org | 2026-09-20 | scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1 | high |
| title, summary, severity, remediation, mitre_attack, kill_chain, recommended_action, confidence, tags, exploitation.prerequisites | nvd.nist.gov | 2026-09-20 | claude-code | high |
| title, recommended_action, tags, exploitation.prerequisites | nvd.nist.gov | 2026-09-20 | human | high |
Printing history
THE RECORD- r1Initial base card
First printing. This card has not been reprinted since publication.