Executive brief
A security vulnerability exists in the Windows USB Print Driver, which manages how the computer communicates with printers connected via USB. An attacker with physical access to a device could exploit this flaw to gain higher-level system permissions, potentially taking full control of the machine. While this requires the attacker to be physically present and use a specialized USB device, it poses a risk to unattended workstations or public terminals.
Technical details
This vulnerability is classified as a Use-After-Free (CWE-416) within the Windows USB Print Driver. The flaw is triggered when the driver incorrectly manages memory after a USB printing object has been deleted or reallocated. An attacker requires physical access to the target machine to connect a malicious USB device. By exploiting this memory corruption, an unauthenticated attacker can achieve local privilege escalation (LPE) to SYSTEM level. Microsoft has released security updates to address this issue across affected versions of Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025.
Affected products
- Microsoft Windows 11 Version 24H2 10.0.26100.0 to 10.0.26100.8875
- Microsoft Windows 11 Version 25H2 10.0.26200.0 to 10.0.26200.8875
- Microsoft Windows 11 version 26H1 10.0.28000.0 to 10.0.28000.2269
- Microsoft Windows Server 2025 10.0.26100.0 to 10.0.26100.33158
Timeline
- 2026-07-14: advisory: Initial publication by Microsoft and NVD
- 2026-07-14: patched: Security updates made available by Microsoft