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OpenAdvisories
High MSRC-CVE-2026-35438 1 CVE

Windows Admin Center Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Published May 12, 2026 · Updated May 12, 2026

Summary

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

Details

According to the CVSS metrics, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to a minor loss of confidentiality (C:L), but major integrity (I:H), and availability (A:H). What does that mean for this vulnerability?
Successful exploitation primarily allows a low-privileged attacker to perform unauthorized actions that affect the system’s integrity and availability. Specifically, the attacker could install an arbitrary available Windows Admin Center version from the update catalog, which can overwrite or alter the existing installation and disrupt normal operation. This is why integrity and availability are rated as high impact.
The impact to confidentiality is considered limited because exploitation does not directly expose sensitive information. However, there is a potential for indirect confidentiality impact if the attacker installs a version that contains known information disclosure issues or weaker security protections.

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability?
An authenticated attacker with low privileges could gain the ability to perform actions that should require higher‑level permissions. Specifically, they could install an arbitrary available Windows Admin Center version from the update catalog. This includes reinstalling the current version, installing older versions, or installing any other available version that is not the latest—including versions that may contain known vulnerabilities.
This effectively allows the attacker to make unauthorized changes to the software configuration beyond what their assigned access level is intended to permit.

How could an attacker exploit this vulnerability?
An authenticated attacker with low‑privileged access could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted request to the affected Windows Admin Center update API, allowing them to perform actions that their assigned permissions should not normally permit.

Security updates
2.6.5.16 — https://aka.ms/wac2511

Vulnerabilities 1

Revision history

  1. #1

    Information published.

References