Local privilege escalation via relative path traversal
Published Sep 8, 2026 · Updated Sep 10, 2026
Relative path traversal in Windows DNS on affected Windows builds allows local authenticated users to elevate privileges. Microsoft has not published the named file, function, or exact path-handling operation responsible beyond identifying relative path traversal. Exploitation requires local access and high privileges and can yield elevated control over the affected host.
Summary
What happened
Relative path traversal in Windows DNS on affected Windows builds allows local authenticated users to elevate privileges. Microsoft has not published the named file, function, or exact path-handling operation responsible beyond identifying relative path traversal. Exploitation requires local access and high privileges and can yield elevated control over the affected host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-72948
- Published
- Sep 8, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 10, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2019
- Classifications
- CWE-23, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 10, 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=10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.9245
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
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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