Exchange ServerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2026-55006

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.02.2562.045 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
Insufficient granularity of access control in Microsoft Exchange Server 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

This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server stemming from insufficient granularity of access control. An attacker who already has authorized access to the system can exploit the overly broad permission model to elevate their privileges to higher-level accounts or roles within the Exchange environment.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for Exchange Server immediately when available; review and implement the principle of least privilege for Exchange service accounts and administrative roles; audit existing user permissions and role group memberships to limit privilege escalation paths.

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
Exchange ServerApplication
Affected:= 2016= 2019
Exchange Server Subscription EditionApplication
Affected:< 15.02.2562.045

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. Identify the installed Exchange Server version
    Use the Exchange Management Shell or check the installed programs to determine the exact version number of Microsoft Exchange Server
    Affected if The installed version is Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, or Exchange Server Subscription Edition with build number less than 15.02.2562.045
  2. Confirm local access capability exists
    Verify that the system allows local interactive logon or remote desktop access for non-administrative users
    Affected if Users with standard accounts can access the Exchange server locally or via remote sessions, providing a potential attack surface for privilege escalation
  3. Review Exchange role group memberships
    Examine the membership of Exchange Administrator role groups using Get-RoleGroupMember cmdlet in Exchange Management Shell
    Affected if Users with lower-privilege Exchange roles exist alongside higher-privilege role groups, indicating the broad permission model that could be exploited for escalation
  4. Check service account configurations
    Review the service accounts configured for Exchange services and their assigned permissions
    Affected if Exchange service accounts have been granted broader permissions than necessary, creating potential privilege escalation paths

You are affected if your Exchange Server version matches 2016, 2019, or Subscription Edition with build below 15.02.2562.045 AND non-administrative users have local access to the server, enabling exploitation of the overly broad access control model.

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 15.02.2562.045 or later
Fixed in 15.02.2562.045
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for Exchange Server immediately when available; review and implement the principle of least privilege for Exchange service accounts and administrative roles; audit existing user permissions and role group memberships to limit privilege escalation paths.

Fix this in Exchange Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,560
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,296.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-55006 — 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-2026-55006 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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