VDB-340766 · CVE-2026-20831 · GCVE-0-2026-20831

Microsoft Windows up to Server 2025 Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock toctou

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
7.1	$5k-$25k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows. It has been declared as critical. This affects an unknown function of the component Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock. Such manipulation leads to toctou. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2026-20831. The attack needs to be performed locally. There is not any exploit available. It is best practice to apply a patch to resolve this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Windows. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is some unknown processing of the component Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a toctou vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-367. The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check. This can cause the product to perform invalid actions when the resource is in an unexpected state. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Time-of-check time-of-use (toctou) race condition in Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

The weakness was released 01/13/2026 as confirmed security update guide (Website). The advisory is available at msrc.microsoft.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-20831. The exploitation is known to be easy. Local access is required to approach this attack. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/16/2026).

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

Operating System

Vendor

Microsoft

Name

Windows

Version

License

commercial

Website

Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/
Product: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.1

VulDB Base Score: 7.8
VulDB Temp Score: 6.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Vendor Base Score (Microsoft): 7.8
Vendor Vector (Microsoft): 🔒

NVD Base Score: 7.0
NVD Vector: 🔒

CNA Base Score: 7.8
CNA Vector (Microsoft): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
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💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
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Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Toctou
CWE: CWE-367 / CWE-362
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Unproven

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔒
0-Day Time: 🔒
Exposure Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

01/13/2026 VulDB entry created
01/13/2026 +0 days Advisory disclosed
01/13/2026 +0 days Countermeasure disclosed
01/16/2026 +3 days VulDB entry last update