CVE-2026-23660: Windows Admin Center in Azure Portal Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
High (CVSS 7.8)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Elevation of Privilege
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Less Likely
Patch Tuesday
2026-Mar
Released
2026-03-10
EPSS Score
0.04% (percentile: 12.6%)

Description

Improper access control in Azure Portal Windows Admin Center allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

FAQ

What customer action needs to take place to mitigate the vulnerability? Customers should install the latest version of the Windows Admin Center extension through the Azure Portal. There is no direct download link; instead, customers need to open the Extensions + Applications blade for their virtual machine in the Azure Portal and search for the extension named AdminCenter (Microsoft.AdminCenter.AdminCenter). From there, they can add or update the extension following the standard Azure VM extension installation process described here. What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges.

Affected Products (1)

Azure

  • Windows Admin Center in Azure Portal

Security Updates (1)

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilan-kalendarov-4826741a0/">Ilan Kalendarov</a> with <a href="https://cymulate.com/">Cymulate</a>

Revision History

  • 2026-03-10: Information published.