WSUS is widely deployed in enterprises; remote privilege escalation in update infrastructure can disrupt many organizations.
CVE-2026-50444
Auth bypass in WSUS enabling remote privilege escalation.
Is CVE-2026-50444 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-50444 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.78% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-50444?
CVE-2026-50444 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-50444?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-50444. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-50444 affect?
CVE-2026-50444 affects Microsoft Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), Windows Server hosting WSUS. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-50444?
Isolate WSUS, restrict network access, enable logging/monitoring, apply vendor patch when released.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Authenticated attacker can remotely elevate privileges on WSUS host, potentially gaining SYSTEM or administrative/domain control.
Immediate action required
- affected>= 10.0.14393.0 and < 10.0.14393.9339
- affected>= 10.0.17763.0 and < 10.0.17763.9020
- affected>= 6.2.9200.0 and < 6.2.9200.26226
- affected>= 6.3.9600.0 and < 6.3.9600.23291
- affected>= 6.3.9600.0 and < 6.3.9600.23291
- affected>= 6.2.9200.0 and < 6.2.9200.26226
- affected>= 10.0.14393.0 and < 10.0.14393.9339
- affected>= 10.0.14393.0 and < 10.0.14393.9339
- affected>= 10.0.17763.0 and < 10.0.17763.9020
- affected>= 10.0.17763.0 and < 10.0.17763.9020
- affected>= 10.0.20348.0 and < 10.0.20348.5386
- affected>= 10.0.26100.0 and < 10.0.26100.33158
- affected>= 10.0.26100.0 and < 10.0.26100.33158
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.