Local privilege escalation via use-after-free
Published Jul 14, 2026 · Updated Jul 14, 2026
Use-after-free in Microsoft Printer Drivers on affected Windows 11 and Server 2025 builds allows local users to elevate privileges. Microsoft has not disclosed the driver routine, freed object, or operation that later dereferences the stale object. Exploitation requires prior local authorization and can grant control at a higher privilege level, affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Microsoft Printer Drivers on affected Windows 11 and Server 2025 builds allows local users to elevate privileges. Microsoft has not disclosed the driver routine, freed object, or operation that later dereferences the stale object. Exploitation requires prior local authorization and can grant control at a higher privilege level, affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-49166
- Published
- Jul 14, 2026
- Updated
- Jul 14, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 14, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.26100.0 <10.0.26100.33158
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.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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