Description

Use after free in Windows Autopilot allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.0",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-11T17:18:57.550Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-11T17:18:57.550Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A use-after-free vulnerability exists within Windows Autopilot, allowing an authorized local attacker to achieve local privilege escalation.\nThe vulnerability affects the Windows Autopilot component, exposing systems to potential security compromise where low-privileged users can manipulate internal object states.\nSuccessful exploitation requires the attacker to be authorized and execute code locally on the target system to interact with vulnerable memory structures.\nThe primary impact of this flaw is the elevation of privileges, potentially granting the attacker higher-level access rights, such as SYSTEM or administrative privileges, depending on the vulnerable context.\nRisk implications include full system compromise, unauthorized access to sensitive data, and the ability to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.\nMitigation requires applying vendor-supplied security updates or patches specifically addressing the use-after-free condition in Windows Autopilot.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is a classic use-after-free (UAF) memory corruption flaw residing within the Windows Autopilot component.\nA use-after-free condition occurs when memory is dynamically allocated, subsequently freed, but a pointer to that memory remains accessible and is referenced again.\nIn this scenario, the vulnerable component fails to properly manage object lifecycles and pointer references during specific operations handled by Windows Autopilot.\nAn authorized local attacker exploits this behavior by manipulating the execution flow to trigger the reuse of the dangling pointer.\nThe attack flow involves initializing interactions with the vulnerable Windows Autopilot interface, forcing the targeted object to be deallocated while maintaining a valid reference.\nSubsequent operations trigger the use of the freed memory block, which the attacker can potentially heap-groom or manipulate to contain controlled data.\nBy controlling the contents of the reallocated memory block, the attacker can achieve arbitrary code execution or manipulate internal application logic.\nPrerequisites for exploitation include local access to the target system and appropriate authorization to interact with the Windows Autopilot subsystem.\nBecause the execution occurs within a privileged context associated with the component, successful exploitation results in local privilege escalation.\nPost-exploitation impact includes the execution of payload behavior with elevated privileges, bypassing standard security boundaries, and compromising the integrity and confidentiality of the host operating system."
}