{"id":"CVE-2026-122988","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-122988"],"related":[],"title":"Windows Admin Center: improper authorization lets a user gain higher privileges","description":"Improper authorization in Windows Admin Center allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.","summary":"Windows Admin Center has an authorization flaw that lets an attacker who already holds a valid account raise their privileges over the network. The sources give a CVSS score of 8.0 and no further detail on the affected versions or exploitation.","severity":"high","cvss":8.0,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[{"name":"Windows Admin Center","fixed":["2.1.36"],"affected":">= 1809.0, < 2.1.36","ecosystem":"vendor"}],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["infrastructure","privilege-escalation","self-hosted","windows-admin-center","windows-server"],"not_affected_if":["auth-required"],"how_to_check":"Open Windows Admin Center, check the version under About; versions below 2.1.36 are affected.","fix":"Update Windows Admin Center to 2.1.36 or later","status":"open","published_at":"2026-11-10T19:20:38+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T19:25:11+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-11-10T19:36:07+00:00","updated_at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.75,"triage":{"at":"2026-11-10T19:36:07Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"unknown","reach":"network","title":"Windows Admin Center: improper authorization lets a user gain higher privileges","impact":"high","summary":"Windows Admin Center has an authorization flaw that lets an attacker who already holds a valid account raise their privileges over the network. The sources give a CVSS score of 8.0 and no further detail on the affected versions or exploitation.","audience":"businesses","category":"infrastructure","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["windows-admin-center","windows-server"],"confidence":0.5,"fix_status":"unknown","needs_auth":"yes","worst_case":"Authorized user gains higher privileges on managed systems over the network","analyst_note":"Find the affected and fixed Windows Admin Center versions in the Microsoft MSRC entry for CVE-2026-122988 and the NVD page linked above.","how_to_check":"- Check the installed Windows Admin Center version in the app's About or Settings page; the sources do not name the affected range, so unknown beyond that.\n- unknown","plain_action":"","product_name":"","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":[],"who_is_affected":"Teams that run Windows Admin Center to manage Windows servers and clusters are the ones exposed, since the attacker needs an authorized account on the network. The sources do not say which versions or configurations are affected, so the exposure cannot be narrowed further.","user_interaction":"no","product_ecosystem":"","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"high"},"cost_usd":0.000701,"input_tokens":4484,"output_tokens":506,"severity_before":"high"},"analyst_status":"done","analyst_note":"Find the affected and fixed Windows Admin Center versions in the Microsoft MSRC entry for CVE-2026-122988 and the NVD page linked above.","search":"'-122988':14A,17A '-2026':13A,16A '8.0':65B 'account':51B 'admin':2A,19A,30B,36B,80C 'affect':72B 'allow':82C 'alreadi':47B 'attack':45B,85C 'author':5A,40B,77C,84C 'center':3A,20A,31B,37B,81C 'cve':12A,15A 'cvss':62B 'detail':69B 'elev':87C 'escal':24B 'exploit':75B 'flaw':41B 'gain':9A 'give':60B 'higher':10A 'hold':48B 'host':27B 'improp':4A,76C 'infrastructur':21B 'let':6A,43B 'network':57B,91C 'privileg':11A,23B,54B,88C 'privilege-escal':22B 'rais':52B 'score':63B 'self':26B 'self-host':25B 'server':34B 'sourc':59B 'user':8A 'valid':50B 'version':73B 'window':1A,29B,33B,35B,79C 'windows':18A 'windows-admin-cent':28B 'windows-serv':32B","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Teams that run Windows Admin Center to manage Windows servers and clusters are the ones exposed, since the attacker needs an authorized account on the network. The sources do not say which versions or configurations are affected, so the exposure cannot be narrowed further.","tier":"B","verified":{"fix":{"at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26Z","by":"analyst","doc":"https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-122988","run_id":2819},"products":{"at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26Z","by":"analyst","doc":"https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-122988","run_id":2819}},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"none","audience":"businesses","plain_action":null,"pkeys":["admincenter","windowsadmincenter"],"ptokens":["admin","center","windows"],"labels":["high","infrastructure","privilegeescalation","selfhosted","windowsadmincenter","windowsserver"],"campaign_type":null,"search_a":"'-122988':14A,17A '-2026':13A,16A 'admin':2A,19A 'author':5A 'center':3A,20A 'cve':12A,15A 'gain':9A 'higher':10A 'improp':4A 'let':6A 'privileg':11A 'user':8A 'window':1A 'windows':18A","search_b":"'8.0':65B 'account':51B 'admin':30B,36B 'affect':72B 'alreadi':47B 'attack':45B 'author':40B 'center':31B,37B 'cvss':62B 'detail':69B 'escal':24B 'exploit':75B 'flaw':41B 'give':60B 'hold':48B 'host':27B 'infrastructur':21B 'let':43B 'network':57B 'privileg':23B,54B 'privilege-escal':22B 'rais':52B 'score':63B 'self':26B 'self-host':25B 'server':34B 'sourc':59B 'valid':50B 'version':73B 'window':29B,33B,35B 'windows-admin-cent':28B 'windows-serv':32B","search_c":"'admin':80C 'allow':82C 'attack':85C 'author':77C,84C 'center':81C 'elev':87C 'improp':76C 'network':91C 'privileg':88C 'window':79C","cause_entry":null,"cause_path":null,"disclosures_checked_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-11-10T19:20:38+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvss_by":"secure@microsoft.com","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-122988","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-122988","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-10T19:20:38+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-10T19:20:38+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T19:25:11+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-10T19:25:11+00:00","note":null},{"source":"analyst","external_id":"CVE-2026-122988:2819","url":"https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-122988","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-10T21:35:26+00:00","note":"Microsoft CNA CVE record: Windows Admin Center 1809.0 up to but excluding 2.1.36 affected; CWE-78 listed though description says improper authorization. MSRC page is JS-only, not read directly. No exploitation or PoC found.","cites":["https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-122988"]}],"documents":[{"id":118938,"url":"https://cveawg.mitre.org/api/cve/CVE-2026-122988","title":"CVE record published by Microsoft (CNA) for CVE-2026-122988","kind":"advisory","source":"analyst","publisher":null,"text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"advisory","confidence":null,"note":null}],"disclosures":[],"exploit_sources":[],"notice":"Free to read, with fair use of about 60 pages a minute. For higher limits or API access: sales@infrastack.ai"}