Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2026-81955: Microsoft Graphics Component heap-based buffer overflow

CVE-2026-81955 · Severity: high · CVSS 8.8 · Published 2026-09-08

Executive brief

Microsoft's Graphics Component, a core system library used by Windows and many applications to render images and visual content, contains a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability. An attacker on the network can exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary code on a user's computer without authorization, potentially leading to full system compromise, data theft, or malware installation.

Technical details

The vulnerability is a heap-based buffer overflow in Microsoft's Graphics Component, allowing remote code execution (RCE) over a network without requiring user authentication. The flaw is in how the component handles specially crafted input, failing to validate buffer boundaries before writing data to heap memory. An attacker can send a malicious network request or craft a file that triggers the overflow, overwriting adjacent heap structures to redirect execution flow and run arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected application. Microsoft has released security updates to patch this vulnerability.

Affected products

  • Microsoft Graphics Component

Timeline

  • 2026-09-08: disclosed

References

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