Authenticated privilege escalation via SMB race condition
Published Jan 13, 2026 · Updated Jan 13, 2026
Race condition in Windows SMB Server allows remote authenticated users to elevate privileges over a network on affected Windows releases. Microsoft identifies improper synchronization of a shared resource but does not disclose the resource, code path, or conflicting operations. Exploitation requires low privileges and winning a high-complexity race; success grants elevated access on the affected system.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in Windows SMB Server allows remote authenticated users to elevate privileges over a network on affected Windows releases. Microsoft identifies improper synchronization of a shared resource but does not disclose the resource, code path, or conflicting operations. Exploitation requires low privileges and winning a high-complexity race; success grants elevated access on the affected system.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-20919
- Published
- Jan 13, 2026
- Updated
- Jan 13, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2019
- Classifications
- CWE-362, T1068
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 13, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 13, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.8276
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo