What is CVE-2026-68820?
Use after free in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
The record classifies CVE-2026-68820 under weakness class CWE-416. Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw requires local access to the host, needs low-privilege credentials, needs no user interaction, and has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability. 12 affected-product entries are recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 93 days ago.
Severity and exploitation probability
- CVSS v3.1 base score
- 7 — HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C - EPSS (FIRST)
- 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 26.1% of all scored CVEs
- CISA KEV
- Listed since 2026-08-11, federal remediation deadline 2026-08-25
- Threadlinqs priority
- 9/10 — CISA KEV-listed, which Threadlinqs floors at 9
- Published
- 2026-08-11
Is CVE-2026-68820 being exploited?
CISA added CVE-2026-68820 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-08-11, which means the agency holds evidence of exploitation in the wild; US federal civilian agencies had to remediate it by 2026-08-25 under BOD 22-01. Weaponised exploit code for CVE-2026-68820 is publicly available. 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are tracked for this identifier. It currently carries a trending score of 58 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.
- HORKimhab/CVE-2026-68820 (github)
- ubitquity/Windows-WinSock-UAF-Mitigation (github)
Affected products and versions
- Microsoft: Windows 10 Version 1607, Windows 10 Version 1809, Windows 10 Version 21H2, Windows 10 Version 22H2, Windows 11 version 23H2, Windows 11 Version 23H2, Windows 11 Version 24H2, Windows 11 Version 25H2, Windows 11 version 26H1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation), Windows Server 2012 R2
How to fix CVE-2026-68820
The record marks a vendor fix as available for CVE-2026-68820. Patch reference: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68820. Because CVE-2026-68820 is KEV-listed, US federal civilian agencies were required to apply the vendor fix, or stop using the product, by 2026-08-25. Apply the vendor fix referenced above to every affected product listed in this record, then confirm the running version against the vendor advisory.
Threat activity tracking CVE-2026-68820
3 tracked threats in the Threadlinqs corpus reference CVE-2026-68820, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.
- NSFOCUS Monthly APT Insights August 2026: Lazarus MISTPEN/ForestTiger/RelayShell Campaign with CVE-2026-68820, UAC-0099 LUNCHPOKE/BURNYBEAR/MATCHBOIL.V2, CVE-2026-42897 Exchange OWA Exploitation — HIGH · 2026-10-21
- Lazarus Exploits CVE-2026-68820 Zero-Day via Malicious PDF Viewer in Operation Dream Job Against Defense Industry — CRITICAL · 2026-09-18
- Microsoft August 2026 Patch Tuesday: 400 Flaws Fixed, Including Lazarus-Exploited Zero-Day CVE-2026-68820 (AFD.sys) and Two Publicly Disclosed Zero-Days (CVE-2026-62832 "LegacyHive", CVE-2026-72971) — CRITICAL · 2026-08-11
Sources
Enriched from CVE.org, NVD, FIRST EPSS, CISA KEV, GitHub Security Advisories, public proof-of-concept repositories. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.