Executive brief
A memory safety bug in Windows TCP/IP stack allows an authorized network user to execute code with elevated system privileges. This could enable lateral movement within a network or a compromised user to gain administrative control of their machine, bypassing normal access controls.
Technical details
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Windows TCP/IP implementation, where a freed memory region is accessed after deallocation. The vulnerability requires network-level access and prior authentication to exploit. An attacker can trigger the condition via specially crafted network traffic to escalate from authorized user privileges to SYSTEM or kernel-level execution. Microsoft has released security updates to patch the affected TCP/IP code path.
Affected products
- Microsoft Windows <UNKNOWN>
Timeline
- 2026-09-08: disclosed