MSRC-CVE-2026-102204 — Windows Subsystem for Linux Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Summary

Impact: Elevation of Privilege. Microsoft rating: Important. Not known to be exploited — Exploitation Less Likely. Customer action: Required.

Details

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability?
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges.

Security updates
3.0.1 — https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/3.0.1

Vulnerabilities 1

High 7.8

CVE-2026-102204

Windows Subsystem for Linux Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Windows Subsystem for Linux allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Microsoft Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) Linux Windows

Oct 13, 2026

Revision history

2026-10-20 #2
Updated CVE to relect that this vulnerability is in the Windows Subsystem for Linux product. Microsoft recommends that customer using this product should install the latest version to be protected.
2026-10-13 #1
Information published.

References

CVE-2026-102204 Windows Subsystem for Linux Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability - HTML
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-102204
Microsoft Exploitability Index
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/exploitability-index?rtc=1
Microsoft Support Lifecycle
https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle
Common Vulnerability Scoring System
https://www.first.org/cvss