CVE-2026-72998 — Microsoft
HIGHCVE-2026-72998 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Use After Free vulnerability. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
Use after free in Windows DHCP Server allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Description
Use after free in Windows DHCP Server allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network.
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Remediation status
The records we use list no fixed release for CVE-2026-72998. Check the upstream advisory for a patched version, and apply the exposure-reduction steps below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-72998 in your dependencies?
Find it across your dependency tree, including transitive dependencies.