CVE-2026-32202: Windows Shell Spoofing Vulnerability

CVE-2026-32202 is a spoofing vulnerability in Windows Shell, rated Important by Microsoft, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.3 (Medium). An attacker can exploit it remotely over the network, without any privileges and only if a user takes an action. Microsoft reports that it has been exploited in the wild. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 28 April 2026, with a remediation deadline of 12 May 2026 for US federal agencies. The EPSS model estimates a 70.90% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 99% of all scored vulnerabilities. Microsoft released the fix on 14 April 2026 in the April 2026 Patch Tuesday, delivered through 10 security updates (KB5099538, KB5099540, KB5099539, KB5099536 and more). It affects 30 products in 2 product families (Windows, ESU).

Key facts

CVE ID: CVE-2026-32202
Severity: Medium CVSS 4.3
Microsoft severity: Important
Impact: Spoofing
Exploited in the wild: Yes
Publicly disclosed: No
Exploitation likelihood: Detected
Weakness: CWE-693
EPSS: 70.90% (percentile 99%)
CISA KEV: Listed 28 April 2026, due 12 May 2026
Released: 14 April 2026
Last updated: 21 August 2026
Patch Tuesday: April 2026 Patch Tuesday
Product families: Windows, ESU

From the April 2026 Patch Tuesday briefing

Windows Shell Spoofing (actively exploited)

Actively exploited / CISA KEV deadline: 2026-05-12. This vulnerability enables attackers to make a file, shortcut, or prompt appear benign when it is not, increasing the success rate of phishing and “user-assisted” malware execution. A common real-world scenario is a user receiving a file that looks like a document or trusted installer, but Windows presents it in a misleading way, leading the user to open it and unknowingly launch malicious code. Also actively exploited, this Windows Shell spoofing issue is scored Medium 4.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N) and tagged CWE-693 Protection Mechanism Failure. The key operational detail is UI:R: exploitation typically hinges on a user being tricked into interacting with a crafted file, shortcut, archive, or shell-presented object (e.g., a deceptive icon/extension/preview behavior). While the impact is “only” low confidentiality loss per the vector, the real-world value is that Shell spoofing is a reliable enabler for phishing success and execution of secondary payloads, it helps attackers get past user skepticism and security prompts.

From the briefing, written by an AI model from PatchaPalooza's data.

CVSS score and vector

Microsoft scores CVE-2026-32202 at 4.3 (temporal 4) using CVSS 3.1. Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

Metric	Value
Attack vector	Network
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges required	None
User interaction	Required
Scope	Unchanged
Confidentiality impact	Low
Integrity impact	None
Availability impact	None
Exploit code maturity	Functional
Remediation level	Official fix
Report confidence	Confirmed

Description

Protection mechanism failure in Windows Shell allows an unauthorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network.

Frequently asked questions (Microsoft)

According to the CVSS metrics, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to some loss of confidentiality (C:L),but lead to no loss of availability (A:N) and integrity (I:N)? What does that mean for this vulnerability?

An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could view some sensitive information (Confidentiality) but not all resources within the impacted component may be divulged to the attacker. The attacker cannot make changes to disclosed information (Integrity) or limit access to the resource (Availability).

According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?

An attacker would have to send the victim a malicious file that the victim would have to execute.

Affected products (30)

Windows

Product	Security update	Type	Fixed build	Restart
Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems	KB5099538	Security Update	10.0.17763.9020	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems	KB5099538	Security Update	10.0.17763.9020	Yes
Windows Server 2019	KB5099538	Security Update	10.0.17763.9020	Yes
Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)	KB5099538	Security Update	10.0.17763.9020	Yes
Windows Server 2022	KB5099540	Security Update	10.0.20348.5386	Yes
Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)	KB5099540	Security Update	10.0.20348.5386	Yes
Windows 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems	KB5099539	Security Update	10.0.19044.7548	Yes
Windows 10 Version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems	KB5099539	Security Update	10.0.19044.7548	Yes
Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems	KB5099539	Security Update	10.0.19044.7548	Yes
Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)	KB5099536	Security Update	10.0.26100.33158	Yes
Windows 11 Version 25H2 for ARM64-based Systems	KB5101650	Security Update	10.0.26200.8875	Yes
Windows 11 Version 25H2 for x64-based Systems	KB5101650	Security Update	10.0.26200.8875	Yes
Windows 11 Version 23H2 for ARM64-based Systems	KB5099414	Security Update	10.0.22631.7376	Yes
Windows 11 Version 23H2 for x64-based Systems	KB5099414	Security Update	10.0.22631.7376	Yes
Windows 11 Version 24H2 for ARM64-based Systems
Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems
Windows Server 2025	KB5099536	Security Update	10.0.26100.33158	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems	KB5099535	Security Update	10.0.14393.9339	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems	KB5099535	Security Update	10.0.14393.9339	Yes
Windows Server 2016	KB5099535	Security Update	10.0.14393.9339	Yes
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)	KB5099535	Security Update	10.0.14393.9339	Yes
Windows 11 Version 26H1 for ARM64-based Systems	KB5101649	Security Update	10.0.28000.2525	Yes
Windows 11 version 26H1 for x64-based Systems

ESU

Product	Security update	Type	Fixed build	Restart
Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
Windows 10 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
Windows 10 Version 22H2 for 32-bit Systems
Windows Server 2012	KB5099445	Monthly Rollup	6.2.9200.26226	Yes
Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)	KB5099445	Monthly Rollup	6.2.9200.26226	Yes
Windows Server 2012 R2	KB5099444	Monthly Rollup	6.3.9600.23291	Yes
Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)	KB5099444	Monthly Rollup	6.3.9600.23291	Yes

Security updates (10)

KB5099538 (Security Update)
KB5099540 (Security Update)
KB5099539 (Security Update)
KB5099536 (Security Update)
KB5101650 (Security Update)
KB5099414 (Security Update)
KB5099535 (Security Update)
KB5099445 (Monthly Rollup)
KB5099444 (Monthly Rollup)
KB5101649 (Security Update)

Exploitation and detection

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Date added: 28 April 2026
Federal due date: 12 May 2026
Ransomware use: Unknown
Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

VulnCheck KEV

Date added: 14 April 2026
Ransomware use: Unknown
Independent sources: 1

14 April 2026 · api.msrc.microsoft.com
27 April 2026 · msrc.microsoft.com
28 April 2026 · cisa.gov
27 May 2026 · proofpoint.com

Public exploits (2)

alexlanum/CVE-2026-32202 · added 22 June 2026
virus-or-not/CVE-2026-32202 · added 4 May 2026

Detection and weaponization

Weaponization maturity: Exploit.

Proof-of-concept repositories (3)

NIST NVD data

NVD status: Analyzed
NVD CVSS: 4.3 (MEDIUM)
NVD weakness: CWE-693
Published to NVD: 14 April 2026
NVD last modified: 26 May 2026

Affected configurations (CPE)

Product	Vulnerable versions
windows 10 1607 (x64)	before 10.0.14393.9060
windows 10 1607 (x86)	before 10.0.14393.9060
windows 10 1809 (x64)	before 10.0.17763.8644
windows 10 1809 (x86)	before 10.0.17763.8644
windows 10 21h2 (arm64)	before 10.0.19044.7184
windows 10 21h2 (x64)	before 10.0.19044.7184
windows 10 21h2 (x86)	before 10.0.19044.7184
windows 10 22h2 (arm64)	before 10.0.19045.7184
windows 10 22h2 (x64)	before 10.0.19045.7184
windows 10 22h2 (x86)	before 10.0.19045.7184
windows 11 23h2 (arm64)	before 10.0.22631.6936
windows 11 23h2 (x64)	before 10.0.22631.6936
windows 11 24h2 (arm64)	before 10.0.26100.8246
windows 11 24h2 (x64)	before 10.0.26100.8246
windows 11 25h2 (arm64)	before 10.0.26200.8246
windows 11 25h2 (x64)	before 10.0.26200.8246
windows 11 26h1 (arm64)	before 10.0.28000.1836
windows 11 26h1 (x64)	before 10.0.28000.1836
windows server 2012	all listed versions
windows server 2012 r2	all listed versions
windows server 2016	before 10.0.14393.9060
windows server 2019	before 10.0.17763.8644
windows server 2022	before 10.0.20348.5020
windows server 2022 23h2	before 10.0.25398.2274
windows server 2025	before 10.0.26100.32690

References

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-32202 (Vendor Advisory)
https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-32202-detection-script-spoofing-vulnerability-in-windows-shell (Third Party Advisory)
https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2026-32202-mitigation-script-spoofing-vulnerability-in-windows-shell (Mitigation, Third Party Advisory)
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-32202 (Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource)

Acknowledgments

Revision history

Version	Date	Description
1.0	14 April 2026	Information published.
1.1	27 April 2026	Corrected the Exploitability Index, Exploited flag and CVSS vector which was incorrect at the time of publication on 4/14/2026. This is an informational change only.
2.0	28 July 2026	This CVE has been re-released to comprehensively address the vulnerability identified by CVE-2026-32202. Microsoft recommends installing the July 2026 updates for your Windows operating systems.
2.1	21 August 2026	Updated an acknowledgement. This is an informational change only.