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Windows Error Reporting Vulnerability Exposes Systems to Privilege Escalation, Allowing SYSTEM Access

Gbhackers •Divya • March 27, 2026

Microsoft recently patched a severe Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerability in the Windows Error Reporting (WER) service, officially tracked as CVE-2026-20817. This flaw allows a local attacker with standard user rights to escalate to SYSTEM privileges by exploiting improper permission handling. The vulnerability was so significant that Microsoft chose to remove the affected feature entirely […]

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This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.

Critical Windows Error Reporting Vulnerability Allows SYSTEM Access via Privilege Escalation A local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Error Reporting (WER) service, tracked as CVE-2026-20817, has been identified, allowing attackers to gain full SYSTEM access. This flaw enables local users with standard rights to escalate their privileges through improper permission handling. Due to the severity of the vulnerability, Microsoft has opted to completely remove the affected feature instead of issuing a traditional patch. The vulnerability was published on January 13, 2026, and the first proof of concept (PoC) was released on February 18, 2026. This poses a significant risk to systems running affected versions of Windows. Organizations are urged to assess their systems for exposure to this vulnerability. 2 sources 73

Extracted Entities

Windows Error Reporting Vulnerability Exposes Systems to Privilege Escalation, Allowing SYSTEM Access

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Extracted Entities

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