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CWE-693Weakness · CWE-693

CVE-2026-50661

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Zero-click 6 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
Protection mechanism failure in Windows BitLocker allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature with a physical attack.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 7 outlets 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

This vulnerability involves a protection mechanism failure in Windows BitLocker that allows an unauthorized attacker with physical access to bypass a security feature. The CVSS vector suggests the attack requires physical proximity rather than being remotely exploitable.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Windows when available and review BitLocker configuration policies to ensure encryption is properly enforced. Consider additional physical security controls for systems handling sensitive data.

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
Physical
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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 version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to determine your installed Windows version
    Affected if Your Windows version falls within the vulnerable release range for this CVE (check against Microsoft security advisories)
  2. Verify BitLocker is enabled
    Open an elevated PowerShell prompt and run 'Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint C:' (or other drive letters) to check protection status
    Affected if BitLocker is enabled and the volume shows as 'FullyEncrypted' or 'EncryptionInProgress' with Protection Status as 'On' or 'Unknown' - indicating the bypass mechanism could apply
  3. Check TPM protection status
    Run 'Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint C: | Select-Object -Property VolumeStatus,ProtectionStatus,KeyProtectors' in PowerShell
    Affected if TPM-only protection (without PIN or password) is configured, which may be the bypass mechanism target
  4. Review BitLocker Group Policy settings
    Run 'gpedit.msc' and navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption, or use 'manage-bde -status' in cmd
    Affected if Policy settings allow bypass of physical security checks or disable additional authentication factors beyond TPM
  5. Check for recent BitLocker audit events
    Open Event Viewer and check Security logs for Event ID 7045 (Service Installation) or look for BitLocker-related events around the time of potential unauthorized access
    Affected if Unexpected or unauthorized BitLocker configuration changes are logged, indicating possible exploitation attempt

You are affected if running a vulnerable Windows version with BitLocker enabled using TPM-only protection (no PIN/password) that allows the physical access bypass to succeed.

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

Apply Microsoft security updates for Windows when available and review BitLocker configuration policies to ensure encryption is properly enforced. Consider additional physical security controls for systems handling sensitive data.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2026-50661 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