Microsoft has addressed a high-severity security vulnerability in Windows Admin Center that could allow attackers to escalate privileges on affected systems. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-26119, carried a CVSS score of 8.8 out of 10, highlighting its potential risk to enterprise environments.
About the Vulnerability
Windows Admin Center is a locally deployed, browser-based management suite enabling administrators to manage Windows Clients, Servers, and Clusters without cloud connectivity. The CVE-2026-26119 vulnerability stems from improper authentication, which allows an authorized attacker to elevate their privileges over a network. According to Microsoft’s advisory dated February 17, 2026:
“The attacker would gain the rights of the user running the affected application.”
Discovery and Patch
The vulnerability was discovered and reported by Andrea Pierini of Semperis. Microsoft resolved the issue in Windows Admin Center version 2511, released in December 2025. Although no active exploitation in the wild has been reported, the vulnerability has been classified with an “Exploitation More Likely” tag.
Pierini noted on LinkedIn that, under certain conditions, the flaw could potentially allow a standard user account to escalate privileges and compromise the full domain, emphasizing the criticality for network administrators to apply updates promptly.
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