Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released FalconFlank, a PoC zero-day privilege escalation exploit against CrowdStrike Falcon's Microsoft Office macro removal feature.
Security researcher Chaotic Eclipse (also known as Nightmare Eclipse) published FalconFlank, a proof-of-concept zero-day exploit for a privilege escalation flaw in CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor. It abuses the Microsoft Office file malicious macro removal remediation feature, which runs with high privileges, and works on fully updated Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 with Falcon Phase 3 Optimal Protection. CrowdStrike says it is investigating and advises customers to disable the Microsoft Office File Suspicious Macro Removal Windows policy. The same researcher recently released zero-day PoCs against Kaspersky Endpoint Security (HardBreacher) and Avast Antivirus (PrettyPrague), the latter dumping the SAM database for a SYSTEM shell.
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released FalconFlank, a zero-day privilege escalation PoC abusing CrowdStrike Falcon's Office macro remediation; CrowdStrike is investigating and issued a tech alert.
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse published FalconFlank, a proof-of-concept zero-day local privilege escalation in CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor that abuses the Microsoft Office malicious macros remediation feature, tested on fully updated Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025. CrowdStrike said it is investigating, advised disabling the Microsoft Office File Suspicious Macro Removal policy, and pointed customers to a FalconFlank tech alert, noting cloud anti-malware protection remains active. The article also covers related PoCs from the same researcher: HardBreacher against Kaspersky (fixed via update), ShieldBreak (CVE-2026-69414) against Microsoft Defender, an unpatched patch bypass of CVE-2026-50656, GreenSection against NVIDIA, and PrettyPrague against Avast, which Gen Digital patched in versions 26.7.11086 and 26.8.11125.
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released ShieldBreak PoC, a claimed patch bypass for Microsoft Defender flaw CVE-2026-50656, now tracked as CVE-2026-69414.
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse released a PoC for ShieldBreak, a claimed full patch bypass of Microsoft Defender flaw CVE-2026-50656 (RoguePlanet), which can yield SYSTEM privileges. Independent researchers Kevin Beaumont and Will Dormann validated the exploit on Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025, noting it requires Defender to be enabled. Microsoft assigned CVE-2026-69414 (CVSS 7.8) with an 'Exploitation More Likely' assessment and is investigating, but has not yet released a patch. The article also notes CISA's KEV addition of the actively exploited Windows AFD.sys flaw CVE-2026-68820.
Researcher Chaotic Eclipse published a PoC bypassing Microsoft's CVE-2026-50656 Defender patch, enabling SYSTEM-level code execution on fully patched Windows systems.
Security researcher Chaotic Eclipse released a proof-of-concept for ShieldBreak, a Microsoft Defender zero-day that fully bypasses the patch for CVE-2026-50656 (RoguePlanet), a race condition in the Malware Protection Engine (mpengine.dll) allowing SYSTEM-level code execution. The PoC was tested on Windows 11 25H2 and Windows Server 2025 with a 100% success rate, and Windows 10 is also vulnerable though not supported by the PoC; the flaw may also leak 8 bytes of memory. Microsoft's MSRC had criticized the researcher's repeated uncoordinated disclosures, including YellowKey (BitLocker bypass), GreenPlasma, and LegacyHive (User Profile Service LPE).
Microsoft is aware of an elevation of privilege in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine in Microsoft Defender publicly referred to as "RoguePlanet ".
Microsoft is aware of an elevation of privilege in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine in Microsoft Defender publicly referred to as "RoguePlanet ".
Local Elevation of Privilege in Microsoft Defender Malware Protection Engine
CVE-2026-69414, publicly dubbed 'ShieldBreak', is a high-severity (CVSS 3.1: 7.8) elevation-of-privilege flaw in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (MMPE) that powers Microsoft Defender, rooted in improper access control and improper privilege management (CWE-284/CWE-269). It is triggered locally: an attacker who already holds low privileges on the machine needs no user interaction (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N) to trip the engine's flawed access checks, and successful exploitation yields high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. News coverage reports public PoCs released under the 'ShieldBreak'/'ShieldCrash' names demonstrating SYSTEM-level access on Defender-protected Windows systems, including claims that the shipped patch can be bypassed and arbitrary files read as SYSTEM. Because MMPE ships as the scan engine inside Microsoft Defender, effectively every Defender-protected Windows 10/11 endpoint and server is potentially affected, though the source data specifies no affected engine version ranges. There is no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation (EPSS 0.6%, absent from CISA KEV), but given the public PoC claims, defenders should assume working exploit code exists.
· Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (used in Microsoft Defender)mass
Use-After-Free Local Privilege Escalation in Microsoft Windows WinSock AFD Driver
CVE-2026-68820 is a use-after-free (CWE-416) in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys), the kernel component that handles Winsock socket operations. A local, authenticated attacker can trigger the memory corruption through crafted socket activity, and the high attack-complexity score (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L) indicates exploitation requires a specific, likely race-sensitive sequence of operations. Successful exploitation elevates privileges to SYSTEM, giving the attacker full control of the host, and public reporting describes deployment of a backdoor after privilege escalation. Virtually every Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server (2012-2022) installation ships this driver, so the affected population is essentially the entire supported Windows installed base. The flaw is being exploited in the wild: CISA added it to the KEV on 2026-08-11, Microsoft fixed it in the August 2026 Patch Tuesday release, and reporting ties active exploitation to North Korea's Lazarus group, who paired the zero-day with fake job-offer lures.
· Microsoft Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock (afd.sys) as shipped with the Windows versions listed below · Microsoft Windows 10 1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2 KEVmass
Local Privilege Escalation via Link Following in Windows User Profile Service
CVE-2026-62832 is a local privilege escalation flaw (CWE-59, improper link resolution, or 'link following') in the Windows User Profile Service. An attacker who already holds a limited local account on an affected machine can cause the service to follow a symbolic link or junction before it validates file access, so the service performs file operations with elevated rights. Successful exploitation grants elevated privileges on the local system — typically up to administrator/SYSTEM level — with no user interaction required. Affected platforms include Windows 10 21H2 and 22H2, Windows 11 23H2 through 26H1, and Windows Server 2022 and 2025, which together span essentially the entire supported Windows estate. As of this analysis there is no public proof-of-concept, no CISA KEV listing, and no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation of this specific flaw; EPSS estimates a 3.3% (88th percentile) chance of exploitation within 30 days, although Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed 400+ vulnerabilities and a separate zero-day (CVE-2026-68820) is under active attack.
· microsoft Windows 10 21H2 · microsoft Windows 10 22H2mass
Local Tampering via Link-Following Flaw in Windows 11 26H1 Container Isolation Driver
CVE-2026-72971 is a link-following flaw (CWE-59) in the Windows Container Isolation FS Filter Driver (unionfs.sys) on Windows 11 26H1: the driver performs file access without fully verifying that the path is not redirected through a symbolic link or junction. A local attacker who already holds low-privilege access (CVSS AV:L/PR:L, no user interaction required) can plant a malicious link at a location the driver processes, causing it to follow the link and act on an attacker-chosen target. The attacker gains tampering capability, which the CVSS scores as High integrity impact with no confidentiality or availability impact, meaning they can modify or overwrite files their account could not normally change. Any Windows 11 26H1 system is in scope per the CVE data, with the highest practical risk on shared or multi-user hosts and machines using container isolation features where unionfs.sys is active. No active exploitation is known: the CVE is not in CISA KEV, no public proof-of-concept exists, and EPSS puts 30-day exploitation probability at about 0.5%; the related news shows Microsoft's August 2026 Patch Tuesday shipped 400+ fixes, and defenders should confirm their devices received the unionfs.sys patch.
· microsoft Windows 11 26H1 (Container Isolation FS Filter Driver, unionfs.sys)mass
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