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CVE-2026-68820 is a local elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys), a kernel-mode networking component that underpins Windows Sockets functionality. The flaw is a use-after-free condition triggered through a race condition in afd.sys during concurrent socket-state handling. Microsoft indicates that a locally authenticated attacker can exploit the issue with a specially crafted application, without requiring user interaction, to corrupt kernel memory and execute code in a highly privileged context. Reporting on observed exploitation also indicates the vulnerability was used as a zero-day to obtain a kernel read/write primitive and launch follow-on kernel-mode tooling.
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No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
19 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A use-after-free elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys) that allows a locally authenticated attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges.
An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock that allows attackers to execute code with SYSTEM privileges. It is notable because the article states it is under active attack.
A zero-day local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Microsoft AFD.sys driver (afd.sys). The article describes it as a race-condition-driven use-after-free that enables kernel read/write and escalation to SYSTEM, and highlights its use by Lazarus in Operation Dream Job.
An Important elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock that Microsoft says has been exploited in the wild.
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.