Microsoft Management Console Mark-of-the-Web Bypass Elevation of Privilege
CVE-2026-27914 is an improper access control elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe). According to the provided content, pre-patch builds of mmc.exe would open .msc console files without consulting the file's Mark-of-the-Web (MOTW) trust state. Patch analysis indicates the fix in KB5083768 added _IsFileSourceUntrustworthy checks in CAMCDoc::ScOnOpenDocument and extended DisplayFileOpenError to present a dedicated error for untrusted-source failures. The described exploitation path is that MMC parses the .msc XML, can instantiate CLSIDs from <SnapinCache> via CoCreateInstance, and COM activation then resolves HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID{...}\InprocServer32 and loads the referenced DLL into mmc.exe. In the reported lab scenario, a low-privileged user planted a MOTW-tagged .msc file in a world-readable location; when an administrator opened it on a pre-patch system, mmc.exe loaded an attacker-controlled DLL and executed code inside a High Integrity MMC process, crossing a Medium Integrity to High Integrity boundary.
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Impact
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Mitigation
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Exploits
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No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
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Recent activity
8 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
An elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe) caused by failing to check Mark-of-the-Web trust state before loading .msc files, enabling untrusted console files to be loaded and potentially leading to elevated code execution via snap-in COM activation.
A Microsoft Management Console elevation of privilege vulnerability.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.