Description

Double free in Windows Network Connection Broker allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.0",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-11T17:18:12.827Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-11T17:18:12.827Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists within the Windows Network Connection Broker component, specifically stemming from a double free memory management flaw.\nAn authorized attacker who has successfully established local access can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code or manipulate memory structures, leading to an escalation of system privileges.\nThe affected system is the Windows Network Connection Broker, which handles core networking and connection state operations within the operating system architecture.\nThe primary risk implication is the potential compromise of the local host integrity, allowing a standard user to attain elevated privileges and potentially take full control of the operating system.\nTo execute this attack, the adversary requires prior local access to the target system along with authorization to interact with the vulnerable broker service.\nExploitation requirements include the ability to execute code locally and interact with specific internal control mechanisms of the Network Connection Broker to trigger the memory corruption sequence.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides in the memory management logic of the Windows Network Connection Broker, specifically characterized by a double free condition.\nA double free occurs when the application attempts to release the same memory chunk dynamically allocated on the heap twice, which corrupts internal heap metadata and internal data structures managed by the heap allocator.\nThe vulnerable component is the internal service handling network connection brokering within the Windows operating system architecture.\nPrerequisites for exploitation dictate that the attacker must possess local execution capability and be an authorized user capable of interfacing with the broker service endpoints.\nThe attack vector is strictly local; remote network exposure is not a prerequisite or vector for this specific flaw.\nThe step-by-step attack flow involves the attacker interacting with the Network Connection Broker via local application programming interfaces or inter-process communication channels.\nBy supplying malformed inputs or orchestrating specific state transitions within the service, the attacker forces the application logic to execute deallocation routines redundantly on the same memory address.\nThis redundant deallocation corrupts the heap management structures, enabling the attacker to manipulate subsequent memory allocations.\nThrough careful heap grooming and exploitation of the corrupted memory state, the payload behavior achieves arbitrary read and write primitives or control flow hijacking.\nThe post-exploitation impact culminates in local privilege escalation, allowing the attacker to execute code in the context of a privileged system account, bypassing security boundaries, and compromising the entirety of the local host."
}