Incorrect Privilege AssignmentWeakness · CWE-266

CVE-2026-12778

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A vulnerability has been found in AOMEI Partition Assistant up to 10.10.1. This vulnerability affects unknown code in the library ampa10.sys of the component Kernel Driver. Such manipulation leads to improper access controls. The attack must be carried out locally. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A vulnerability in the ampa10.sys kernel driver of AOMEI Partition Assistant up to version 10.10.1 allows local attackers to exploit improper access controls. The vulnerability resides in the kernel driver component and could enable privilege escalation or unauthorized kernel-level operations. The exploit has been publicly disclosed, increasing practical exploitation risk.

MitigationSince the vendor did not respond to the disclosure, organizations should discontinue use of AOMEI Partition Assistant or implement compensating controls such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions, application whitelining, and restricting local administrator privileges to limit exploitation potential.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify AOMEI Partition Assistant installation
    Check for the presence of AOMEI Partition Assistant in the system: Look for the installation directory (commonly at C:\Program Files\AOMEI Partition Assistant or C:\Program Files (x86)\AOMEI Partition Assistant), or check in Add/Remove Programs (appwiz.cpl).
    Affected if AOMEI Partition Assistant is installed on the system.
  2. Determine installed version of AOMEI Partition Assistant
    Locate the main executable (e.g., PA.exe or PartitionAssistant.exe) in the installation directory, right-click and select Properties, then check the Details tab for the File Version. Alternatively, check the version listed in Add/Remove Programs.
    Affected if The installed version is 10.10.1 or any earlier version (versions prior to the fix).
  3. Identify if ampa10.sys kernel driver is present
    Search for the file ampa10.sys in the Windows\System32\drivers directory, or within the AOMEI Partition Assistant installation folder. The driver file name may also appear as ampa*.sys with other numeric suffixes.
    Affected if The ampa10.sys or related ampa*.sys kernel driver file exists on the system.
  4. Check if kernel driver is loaded
    Open an elevated command prompt and run: driverquery /v | findstr -i ampa. This command lists loaded drivers and filters for ampa-related entries.
    Affected if The ampa10.sys or ampa*.sys driver is listed as loaded in the driver query output.

If AOMEI Partition Assistant version 10.10.1 or earlier is installed and the ampa10.sys kernel driver is present or loaded, the system is affected by CVE-2026-12778.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Since the vendor did not respond to the disclosure, organizations should discontinue use of AOMEI Partition Assistant or implement compensating controls such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions, application whitelining, and restricting local administrator privileges to limit exploitation potential.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,680.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-12778 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-12778 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data