MSRC-CVE-2026-68821 — Windows Package Manager 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
1.29.279 — https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/releases/tag/v1.29.280

Vulnerabilities 1

High 7.3

CVE-2026-68821

Windows Package Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Improper privilege management in Windows Package Manager allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Microsoft App Installer

Aug 11, 2026

Revision history

2026-08-29 #3
Changes made to the security updates links and information. This is an informational change only.
2026-08-14 #2
Acknowledgement Updated
2026-08-11 #1
Information published.

References

CVE-2026-68821 Windows Package Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability - HTML
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68821
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