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Windows 10 1607Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2026-54989

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.14393.9339 / 10.0.17763.9020 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 Quality Windows Audio/Video Experience (QWAVE) service 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

Use after free vulnerability in the Quality Windows Audio/Video Experience (QWAVE) service allows a local authenticated attacker to achieve privilege escalation by corrupting memory after a pointer has been freed.

MitigationApply vendor patch when available; until then, evaluate disabling the QWAVE service if not required and ensure least-privilege access controls are in place.

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 10 1607Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.14393.9339
Windows 10 1809Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.9020
Windows 10 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19044.7548
Windows 10 22h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19045.7548
Windows 11 24h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.26100.8875
Windows 11 25h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.26200.8875
Windows 11 26h1Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.28000.2525
Windows Server 2012Operating system
Affected:all versions= r2

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 QWAVE service presence
    Open Services console (services.msc) or run 'Get-Service QWAVE' in PowerShell to check if the Quality Windows Audio/Video Experience service is installed on the system
    Affected if The service is not found or disabled means the attack surface does not exist; if the service is present and running, the system could be affected if the version is also vulnerable
  2. Check Windows version
    Run 'winver' from command prompt or use 'SystemInfo' command; alternatively, run 'Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object OsVersion,OsBuildNumber' in PowerShell
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of these vulnerable ranges: Windows 10 1607 < 10.0.14393.9339, Windows 10 1809 < 10.0.17763.9020, Windows 10 21h2 < 10.0.19044.7548, Windows 10 22h2 < 10.0.19045.7548, Windows 11 24h2 < 10.0.26100.8875, Windows 11 25h2 < 10.0.26200.8875, Windows 11 26h1 < 10.0.
  3. Confirm service status
    Run 'sc query QWAVE' from command prompt or check service properties in Services console to determine if the service is set to Start automatically or is currently running
    Affected if The service is set to start automatically or is currently running on a vulnerable Windows version, the system is affected by this CVE

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Windows version (as listed above) AND has the QWAVE service present and enabled, allowing a local authenticated attacker to potentially exploit the use-after-free for privilege escalation.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.0.14393.9339 / 10.0.17763.9020 / 10.0.19044.7548 or later
Fixed in 10.0.14393.933910.0.17763.902010.0.19044.7548
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patch when available; until then, evaluate disabling the QWAVE service if not required and ensure least-privilege access controls are in place.

Recommended fix High confidence

Windows 10 1607: 10.0.14393.9339+ | Windows 10 1809: 10.0.17763.9020+ | Windows 10 21h2: 10.0.19044.7548+ | Windows 10 22h2: 10.0.19045.7548+ | Windows 11 24h2: 10.0.26100.8875+ | Windows 11 25h2: 10.0.26200.8875+ | Windows 11 26h1: 10.0.28000.2525+ | Windows Server 2012/R2: Latest supported update

  1. 1. Identify the current Windows version by running 'winver' or checking System Information
  2. 2. Determine if the installed version is below the fixed build number for your Windows release
  3. 3. Open Windows Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update
  4. 4. Click 'Check for updates' to fetch the latest security patches
  5. 5. Install all available updates, specifically the security update containing the QWAVE fix
  6. 6. For Windows Server 2012/R2, apply the relevant monthly security update from Microsoft Update Catalog
  7. 7. Restart the system after updates are installed
  8. 8. Verify the version has been updated to the fixed build number or later
Caveat Standard Windows update; no expected breaking changes for this security patch

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Windows 10 1607 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,680
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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-2026-54989 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