CVE-2026-50462
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 · uneditedExternal control of file name or path in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
In the news
Third-party coverage- Microsoft July 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes massive 570 flaws, 3 zero-days
- Microsoft CVE Summary - Bleeping Computer
Surfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.
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 confidenceA file path manipulation vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver (AFD) for WinSock allows a locally authorized attacker to control file paths used by the driver, leading to privilege escalation from their current privileges to higher system privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 10.0.14393.9339< 10.0.17763.9020< 10.0.19044.7548< 10.0.19045.7548< 10.0.26100.8875< 10.0.26200.8875< 10.0.28000.2269< 10.0.28000.2525all versions= r2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine your Windows versionRun 'winver' from the Run dialog, or execute 'systeminfo' in Command Prompt and look at the 'OS Version' lineAffected if The version is one of the affected releases (Windows 10 1607, 1809, 21h2, 22h2; Windows 11 24h2, 25h2, 26h1; or Windows Server 2012/R2) AND its build number falls below the fixed versions listed in the CVE (for example, below 10.0.14393.9339 for 10 1607, below 10.0.17763.9020 for 10 1809, etc.)
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Check the AFD driver file versionLocate afd.sys in System32\drivers (typically C:\Windows\System32\drivers\afd.sys), right-click and select Properties, or run 'driverquery /v /fo list | findstr afd' to see driver detailsAffected if The driver file version is present and its version number is lower than the corresponding fixed build for your Windows version (e.g., for Windows 10 1809, below 10.0.17763.9020)
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Confirm the AFD driver is loadedOpen Device Manager, select 'View > Devices by connection', expand 'System devices' and look for 'Ancillary Function Driver for Winsock' or run 'sc query afd' in Command PromptAffected if The driver is present and running (this is required for exploitation but does not by itself indicate vulnerability)
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Identify local user privilegesRun 'net user' to list local users, or 'whoami /groups' to see current user group membershipsAffected if The user has local account access but is not in privileged groups such as Administrators or Domain Admins - the vulnerability allows escalation from lower-privilege local accounts to SYSTEM
Your system is affected if it runs a Windows version within the listed ranges AND its build number is below the specified thresholds, and you have local users with non-administrative access to the machine.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data10.0.14393.933910.0.17763.902010.0.19044.7548
Apply the Microsoft security update for this vulnerability once released; until then, minimize the number of local users with access to systems and monitor for indicators of exploitation against the WinSock driver.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-50462 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-50462 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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