Windows 11 24h2Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2026-50466

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.26100.8875 / 10.0.26100.33158 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click 5 weeks old

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
Use after free in Windows Brokering File System allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 1 outlet this week · latest 1mo ago

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 confidence

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Windows Brokering File System (BFS) that allows a locally authorized attacker to manipulate memory after it has been freed, leading to privilege escalation from their current authorization level to higher system privileges.

MitigationApply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-50466 when released, as this is a kernel-level file system vulnerability that requires vendor-supplied patching rather than configuration changes.

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
Windows 11 24h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.26100.8875
Windows 11 25h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.26200.8875
Windows 11 26h1Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.28000.2269< 10.0.28000.2525
Windows Server 2025Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.26100.33158

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. Check Windows build number
    Open Command Prompt or PowerShell and run: winver OR systeminfo | findstr /C:"Build"
    Affected if The build number is lower than 26100.8875 for 24h2, 26200.8875 for 25h2, 28000.2269 or 28000.2525 for 26h1, or 26100.33158 for Server 2025
  2. Verify Windows version name
    Run winver to confirm the specific Windows 11 version (24h2, 25h2, or 26h1) or check System Properties for Windows Server 2025
    Affected if The installed version matches an affected version branch but the build number is below the patched threshold
  3. Confirm BFS component presence
    Check for the presence of the Brokering File System by examining %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\bfs.sys file existence, or query via: reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BFS"
    Affected if The BFS driver file exists on the system (the vulnerability applies when BFS is loaded)

The system is affected if it runs any of the listed Windows versions/builds below the patched thresholds and the BFS driver is present on the system.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.0.26100.8875 / 10.0.26100.33158 / 10.0.26200.8875 or later
Fixed in 10.0.26100.887510.0.26100.3315810.0.26200.8875
Interim mitigation

Apply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2026-50466 when released, as this is a kernel-level file system vulnerability that requires vendor-supplied patching rather than configuration changes.

Fix this in Windows 11 24h2 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-50466 — 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-2026-50466 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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