CVE-2026-56178

Local privilege escalation via undisclosed TOCTOU race

Published Jul 14, 2026 · Updated Jul 14, 2026

TOCTOU race condition in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for macOS before 101.26042.0020 allows local users to elevate privileges. Microsoft has not disclosed the affected component, resource, or the check-and-use operations whose intervening state change creates the race. Exploitation requires existing low-privileged local access and affects integrity, with no reported data disclosure or service interruption.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.23%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

TOCTOU race condition in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for macOS before 101.26042.0020 allows local users to elevate privileges. Microsoft has not disclosed the affected component, resource, or the check-and-use operations whose intervening state change creates the race. Exploitation requires existing low-privileged local access and affects integrity, with no reported data disclosure or service interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-56178
Published
Jul 14, 2026
Updated
Jul 14, 2026
Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for macOS
Classifications
CWE-367, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=101.0.0 <101.26042.0020

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Microsoft · Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for macOSversion=101.0.0 <101.26042.0020

Published CVSS scores

7.0NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
5.5Microsoft CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-367Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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

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Your stack

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