Windows 10 1607Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2026-55001

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
Improper certificate validation in Windows Active Directory 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

Improper certificate validation in Windows Active Directory allows an authorized attacker to bypass authentication controls and elevate privileges locally to a higher account type.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Windows Active Directory when released; review certificate validation policies and implement proper certificate chain verification.

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 Server 2016Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.14393.9339
Windows Server 2019Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.9020
Windows Server 2022Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.20348.5386
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 version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to obtain the installed Windows version number
    Affected if The version falls below any of these thresholds: 10.0.14393.9339 (Windows 10 1607/Server 2016), 10.0.17763.9020 (Windows 10 1809/Server 2019), 10.0.20348.5386 (Server 2022), 10.0.26100.33158 (Server 2025)
  2. Confirm Active Directory role is present
    On the domain controller, open Server Manager and check if 'Active Directory Certificate Services' role is installed, or run 'Get-WindowsFeature AD-Certificate' in PowerShell on Server editions
    Affected if AD CS is installed and the Windows version is below the patched versions listed above
  3. Check certificate validation configuration
    Review certificate validation settings on the AD CS server. Examine the certificate chain validation policy in the registry under 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SystemCertificates' or via the Certificate Services snap-in (certsrv.msc)
    Affected if Certificate chain validation is disabled or set to skip verification, and the system is in an affected version range

A system is affected if it runs a Windows version listed above AND has Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) configured, with certificate validation weakened or vulnerable to bypass.

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 10.0.14393.9339 / 10.0.17763.9020 / 10.0.20348.5386 or later
Fixed in 10.0.14393.933910.0.17763.902010.0.20348.5386
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for Windows Active Directory when released; review certificate validation policies and implement proper certificate chain verification.

Fix this in Windows 10 1607 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $9,504.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-55001 — 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-2026-55001 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