CVE-2026-54115 in Windows
Summary
by MITRE • 07/14/2026
Integer overflow or wraparound in Windows Active Directory allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/15/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical integer overflow condition within the Windows Active Directory implementation that enables authenticated attackers to achieve local privilege escalation. The flaw occurs when integer arithmetic operations exceed their maximum representable values, causing the system to wrap around to minimum values or zero, which can lead to unexpected behavior in memory management and access control mechanisms. Such vulnerabilities are classified under CWE-190 as integer overflow conditions that can result in security consequences when not properly handled by the system's validation routines.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation within Active Directory's authentication and authorization processes, where integer variables fail to properly check for overflow conditions during calculations involving user permissions, access tokens, or privilege levels. When an authenticated user manipulates input parameters that eventually get processed through integer arithmetic operations, the system may inadvertently grant elevated privileges or bypass access controls due to the wraparound behavior. This type of vulnerability commonly manifests in scenarios where the system calculates buffer sizes, permission bitmasks, or access control list indices without proper bounds checking.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation to potentially enable attackers to gain administrative control over domain-joined systems and potentially compromise entire network infrastructures. An attacker who successfully exploits this condition can manipulate the system's internal state to bypass security mechanisms that rely on integer-based calculations for access decisions, leading to unauthorized data access, system modification, or even complete domain compromise. This vulnerability particularly affects environments where Active Directory serves as the primary authentication and authorization framework, making it a significant concern for enterprise security.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing comprehensive input validation and integer overflow protection mechanisms within the affected systems, including regular security updates from Microsoft that address the specific implementation flaws in Active Directory. Organizations should also deploy monitoring solutions to detect anomalous privilege escalation patterns and ensure proper access control enforcement through additional layers of security checks beyond the vulnerable integer operations. The vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including privilege escalation through system binary proxy execution and defense evasion by manipulating authentication processes, making it a critical target for both preventive and detective security controls.
Security professionals should prioritize patch management programs to address this vulnerability promptly, as the integer overflow conditions typically require minimal exploitation effort once an attacker has authenticated credentials. The remediation process involves not only applying vendor patches but also implementing code review processes to identify similar integer handling issues in custom applications that interact with Active Directory services, ensuring that all arithmetic operations include proper overflow detection and handling mechanisms.