Critical Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Admin Center
20 February 2026
Microsoft has disclosed a privilege-escalation vulnerability (CVE-2026-26119) in Windows Admin Center (WAC). Users and administrators of affected product versions are advised to update to the latest version immediately.
Background
Microsoft has disclosed a privilege-escalation vulnerability (CVE-2026-26119) in Windows Admin Center (WAC), a browser-based platform widely used by IT administrators and infrastructure teams to manage Windows clients, servers, clusters, Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines, as well as Active Directory-joined systems. Although the issue was patched in early December 2025 with the release of Windows Admin Center version 2511, it has only just been publicly acknowledged.
Impact
Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a remote attacker with low-level privileges to escalate their permissions, potentially leading to full domain compromise.
Affected Products
The vulnerability affects the following versions of Windows Admin Center:
Versions prior to version 2511
Recommendations
Users and administrators of affected product versions are advised to update to the latest version immediately.
References
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-26119
