Microsoft PowerToys prior 0.101.2632.0 improper authorization

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 (≈)
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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.
5.9$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Microsoft PowerToys. Impacted is an unknown function. The manipulation leads to improper authorization. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-96188. Local access is required to approach this attack. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft PowerToys and classified as problematic. This issue affects an unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authorization vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-285. The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

External control of system or configuration setting in Microsoft PowerToys allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

It is possible to read the advisory at msrc.microsoft.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-96188 since 09/22/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/14/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1548.002 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 0.101.2632.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

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License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.9

VulDB Base Score: 4.8
VulDB Temp Score: 4.6
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 7.3
CNA Vector (microsoft): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Improper authorization
CWE: CWE-285 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: PowerToys 0.101.2632.0

Timelineinfo

09/22/2026 CVE reserved
10/14/2026 +22 days Advisory disclosed
10/14/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/14/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: microsoft.com

Advisory: msrc.microsoft.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-96188 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-96188
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-419567

Entryinfo

Created: 10/14/2026 10:54
Changes: 10/14/2026 10:54 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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