CVE-2026-85844: Windows privilege escalation in Kerberos

Summary

Windows Kerberos has an elevation of privilege vulnerability that lets an unauthorized attacker gain higher privileges over the network. The attacker can reach it remotely, without logging in, and it requires no action from a user.

Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.

Read the original description

Authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel in Windows Kerberos allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.

cve.now Index

30Pcve.now Index 30 of 100 · methodology v3 · provisional

Exploitation0/40No signal
Exposure20/25No login or user action needed per the CVSS vector, CISA rates it automatable · Unknown: No advisory context yet
Reach?/20Unknown. No tracked technology or package matched
Severity10/10CVSS 9.8, total technical impact per CISA
No patch0/5No signal

What would change the score

Would score about 75 if added to CISA KEV
Would score about 70 if CISA's SSVC rates exploitation active
Would score about 35 if advisories confirm default setups are exposed

How the score works · Rankings

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed version: Windows 10.0.14393.9688, 10.0.17763.9487, 10.0.19044.7846, 10.0.19045.7846, 10.0.22631.7711, or one of 4 more · Windows Server 10.0.14393.9688, 10.0.17763.9487, 6.2.9200.26434, 10.0.20348.5870, 10.0.26100.33822 · Windows Server 2012 R2 6.3.9600.23470.

Check your systems with an agent

Paste this into a coding or ops agent. It checks your systems read-only and reports a table per asset.

Check whether my systems are affected by CVE-2026-85844 (Windows Kerberos Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability), using the cve.now data below.

Rules: work read-only. Do not run exploit code, proof-of-concept scripts or scanners that send attack payloads, and do not change any configuration, package, image or deployment. Report findings only.

What cve.now has for CVE-2026-85844 (entry last updated 2026-11-10):
Affected:
- Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607: from 10.0.14393.0, fixed in 10.0.14393.9688
- Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809: from 10.0.17763.0, fixed in 10.0.17763.9487
- Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2: from 10.0.19044.0, fixed in 10.0.19044.7846
- Microsoft Windows 10 Version 22H2: from 10.0.19045.0, fixed in 10.0.19045.7846
- Microsoft Windows 11 version 23H2: from 10.0.22631.0, fixed in 10.0.22631.7711
- Microsoft Windows 11 Version 23H2: from 10.0.22631.0, fixed in 10.0.22631.7711
- Microsoft Windows 11 Version 24H2: from 10.0.26100.0, fixed in 10.0.26100.9974
- Microsoft Windows 11 Version 25H2: from 10.0.26200.0, fixed in 10.0.26200.9974
- Microsoft Windows 11 version 26H1: from 10.0.28000.0, fixed in 10.0.28000.3501
- Microsoft Windows 11 Version 26H2: from 10.0.26300.0, fixed in 10.0.26300.9974
- and 11 more affected products, listed on https://cve.now/CVE-2026-85844
Fixed versions: 10.0.14393.9688, 10.0.17763.9487, 10.0.19044.7846, 10.0.19045.7846, 10.0.22631.7711, 10.0.26100.9974, 10.0.26200.9974, 10.0.28000.3501, 10.0.26300.9974, 6.2.9200.26434, 6.3.9600.23470, 10.0.20348.5870 and 1 more.
Setup: unknown whether the bug needs a non-default feature or setting. Check the advisory.
CISA KEV: CVE-2026-85844 is not listed as of cve.now's last read.
This KEV status is for CVE-2026-85844 only. If you also check another CVE, look up its own KEV status; never assume it from this one.

How to check:
- Installed software: check what is actually running, not what a repo declares. Read the version from each host, container image and Kubernetes node (the binary's version output, the OS package database, image layers), and check whether the conditions above hold there. Distribution packages may carry a backported fix under an older version number; confirm against the distribution's own advisory.

Verify against the linked advisories before concluding, and cite the date you read each one:
- https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-85844
Do not conclude an asset is unaffected unless you checked it and the evidence covers both its version and the conditions above. If you could not check something, mark it unknown and say what is missing.

Entry: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-85844
For follow-up questions, use the cve.now MCP server at https://mcp.cve.now/mcp (no authentication), for example get_vulnerability with id CVE-2026-85844.

Timeline

Nov 10, 2026, 6:20 PM UTCCVE published
Nov 10, 2026, 7:21 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
Nov 10, 2026, 7:40 PM UTCRecord last updated
Nov 10, 2026, 9:14 PM UTCFirst seen by cve.now

Affected versions

Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607
From 10.0.14393.0 · fixed in 10.0.14393.9688
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809
From 10.0.17763.0 · fixed in 10.0.17763.9487
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2
From 10.0.19044.0 · fixed in 10.0.19044.7846
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 22H2
From 10.0.19045.0 · fixed in 10.0.19045.7846
Microsoft Windows 11 version 23H2
From 10.0.22631.0 · fixed in 10.0.22631.7711
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 23H2
From 10.0.22631.0 · fixed in 10.0.22631.7711
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 24H2
From 10.0.26100.0 · fixed in 10.0.26100.9974
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 25H2
From 10.0.26200.0 · fixed in 10.0.26200.9974

Show all 21 packagesShow fewer packages

Microsoft Windows 11 version 26H1
From 10.0.28000.0 · fixed in 10.0.28000.3501
Microsoft Windows 11 Version 26H2
From 10.0.26300.0 · fixed in 10.0.26300.9974
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
From 6.2.9200.0 · fixed in 6.2.9200.26434
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
From 6.2.9200.0 · fixed in 6.2.9200.26434
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
From 6.3.9600.0 · fixed in 6.3.9600.23470
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)
From 6.3.9600.0 · fixed in 6.3.9600.23470
Microsoft Windows Server 2016
From 10.0.14393.0 · fixed in 10.0.14393.9688
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
From 10.0.14393.0 · fixed in 10.0.14393.9688
Microsoft Windows Server 2019
From 10.0.17763.0 · fixed in 10.0.17763.9487
Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
From 10.0.17763.0 · fixed in 10.0.17763.9487
Microsoft Windows Server 2022
From 10.0.20348.0 · fixed in 10.0.20348.5870
Microsoft Windows Server 2025
From 10.0.26100.0 · fixed in 10.0.26100.33822
Microsoft Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)
From 10.0.26100.0 · fixed in 10.0.26100.33822

Evidence 3

Vendor advisory · 1

Establishes: Affected and fixed versions.

Patch
msrc.microsoft.com · update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-85844

CVE record · 2

Establishes: The identifier and description.

Record
CVE List · CVE-2026-85844
Record
NVD · CVE-2026-85844

Corrections

None so far.

Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.

Questions about CVE-2026-85844

Is CVE-2026-85844 being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-85844?

Windows 10 Version 1607: from 10.0.14393.0 before 10.0.14393.9688. Windows 10 Version 1809: from 10.0.17763.0 before 10.0.17763.9487. Windows 10 Version 21H2: from 10.0.19044.0 before 10.0.19044.7846. Windows 10 Version 22H2: from 10.0.19045.0 before 10.0.19045.7846. Windows 11 version 23H2: from 10.0.22631.0 before 10.0.22631.7711. 16 more packages are listed on the page.Source: cve.now feed data

How do I fix CVE-2026-85844?

Upgrade to a fixed version: Windows 10.0.14393.9688, 10.0.17763.9487, 10.0.19044.7846, 10.0.19045.7846, 10.0.22631.7711, or one of 4 more · Windows Server 10.0.14393.9688, 10.0.17763.9487, 6.2.9200.26434, 10.0.20348.5870, 10.0.26100.33822 · Windows Server 2012 R2 6.3.9600.23470.Source: cve.now feed data

Windows Kerberos Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability