CVE-2026-48581: Surface Broker SDMA 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-Jul
Released
2026-07-14

Description

Insufficient granularity of access control in Microsoft Surface allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

FAQ

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges. What actions do customers need to perform to be protected against this vulnerability? Surface devices get updates through Windows Update. See Surface update history for more information. If you wish to install the updates manually, you can do the following: In the Surface app, expand Help & support to check the update status. If there are updates available, select the Check for updates button to open Windows Update and install the available updates.

Affected Products (13)

Device

  • Surface Windows Dev Kit
  • Microsoft Surface Hub
  • Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
  • Surface Laptop 4 with AMD Processor
  • Microsoft Surface Hub 2S
  • Microsoft Surface Go 2
  • Surface Laptop 4 with Intel Processor
  • Microsoft Surface Pro 8
  • Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3
  • Microsoft Surface Laptop Go
  • Microsoft Surface Go 3
  • Microsoft Surface Pro 7+
  • Microsoft Surface Hub 3

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://x.com/yeahbutnahbut">JC</a> with <a href="https://splinters.io/">Splinters.io</a>

Revision History

  • 2026-07-14: Information published.