CVE-2026-105007 in Windows
Summary
by MITRE • 10/13/2026
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) when ndis.sys fails to check the length of a buffer prior to copying memory to it. To exploit the vulnerability, in a local attack scenario, an attacker could run a specially crafted application to elevate the attacker's privilege level. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run processes in an elevated context. However, an attacker must first gain access to the local system with the ability to execute a malicious application in order to exploit this vulnerability. The security update addresses the vulnerability by changing how ndis.sys validates buffer length.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/13/2026
The Network Driver Interface Specification, commonly referred to as NDIS, serves as a critical framework within Microsoft Windows operating systems that defines the interface between network card drivers and protocol drivers. This specification allows for standardized communication between hardware components and software protocols, ensuring interoperability across various network adapters. The vulnerability in question resides specifically within the ndis.sys driver file, which is responsible for managing these interactions at the kernel level. Because this component operates with high privileges to facilitate direct hardware access, any flaw within its logic can have severe consequences for system integrity and security posture.
The core technical flaw identified is a classic buffer length validation error where the ndis.sys module fails to adequately check the size of an incoming buffer before attempting to copy memory data into it. This oversight means that if a malicious application provides a buffer with insufficient allocated space relative to the amount of data being copied, the driver will proceed with the operation without raising an exception or rejecting the input. Consequently, this leads to a heap-based buffer overflow condition where data is written beyond the boundaries of the intended memory allocation. Such out-of-bounds writes can corrupt adjacent memory structures, overwrite function pointers, or manipulate control flow mechanisms within the kernel space.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability represents a significant elevation of privilege risk. In a local attack scenario, an adversary who has already gained access to the system with user-level privileges can execute a specially crafted application designed to trigger this buffer overflow. By carefully crafting the input data and exploiting the memory corruption, the attacker can achieve arbitrary code execution within the context of the operating system kernel. This effectively allows the attacker to bypass standard security controls and elevate their privilege level from that of a standard user to SYSTEM or equivalent high-privilege status. Once elevated, the attacker gains unrestricted access to all resources on the compromised machine, including sensitive data, configuration settings, and other running processes.
The exploitation path for this vulnerability is constrained by the requirement for local access with execution capabilities. An attacker cannot exploit this flaw remotely over a network without first establishing a foothold on the target system through separate means such as phishing, exploiting another remote service, or physical access. This limitation classifies the threat primarily toward insider threats or attackers who have already breached perimeter defenses and achieved initial code execution under a low-privilege account. The severity of the impact is therefore directly tied to the attacker's ability to run malicious software on the target host rather than network-based propagation vectors.
Industry standards provide clear categorization for this type of flaw, aligning it with CWE-120 Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input Classic buffer overflow and potentially CWE-476 NULL Pointer Dereference if specific conditions lead to null references during the faulty copy operation. In terms of tactical behavior within the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability facilitates privilege escalation techniques often associated with Tactic 3 Privilege Escalation, specifically leveraging kernel vulnerabilities or driver flaws to gain higher-level access. Understanding these mappings helps security teams prioritize patching efforts and monitor for indicators of compromise related to local exploitation attempts.
To mitigate the risks associated with this vulnerability, organizations must ensure that all affected systems have applied the latest security updates provided by Microsoft. These patches modify the validation logic within ndis.sys to strictly enforce buffer length checks before any memory copy operations occur, thereby preventing the overflow condition from being triggered. Beyond patching, defense-in-depth strategies should be employed, including restricting user privileges through least-privilege principles and deploying endpoint detection and response solutions capable of identifying anomalous kernel-level activities or unexpected driver behavior. Regular auditing of installed software and strict control over application execution can further reduce the attack surface available to potential local attackers seeking to exploit this specific flaw in the network driver infrastructure.