CVE-2026-41091

FAUCET Score

Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Microsoft Defender allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

First published: May 20, 2026Last modified: May 26, 2026

Impacted Technologies

Vendor	Product	Version(s)	CPE
		>= 1.1.26030.3008, < 1.1.26040.8CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:malware_protection_engine::::::::

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector

LOCAL

Attack Complexity

LOW

Privileges Required

LOW

User Interaction

NONE

Scope

UNCHANGED

Confidentiality Impact

HIGH

Integrity Impact

HIGH

Availability Impact

HIGH

Exploitability Score

1.8

Impact Score

5.9

CvssVersion

3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score

9.64%

Probability of exploitation in next 30 days

EPSS Percentile

95.0%

Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group

As of 2026-07-27

Model: v2026.06.15

Added to KEV · May 20, 2026

This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0964 is in the 99th percentile among its peer group of 17,070 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.2 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (2)

microsoftpatch availablevia msrc

Product: Microsoft Malware Protection EngineFixed in: 1.1.26040.8

microsoftvendor investigatingvia nvd_reference

View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

microsoft2026-May/CVE-2026-41091Important

Microsoft Defender Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

May 12, 2026

References

cisa.gov / known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

Third Party AdvisoryUS Government Resource

msrc.microsoft.com / update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-41091

Vendor Advisory