CVE-2026-54121
Published Jul 14, 2026
Last updated 6 days ago
AI description
CVE-2026-54121, also known as "Certighost," is an improper authorization vulnerability found in Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS). This flaw allows an authenticated attacker with low-privilege network access to elevate their privileges within an Active Directory environment. The vulnerability stems from insufficient permission checks during AD CS request handling, specifically within a vulnerable enrollment fallback mechanism known as a "chase" during directory-object resolution. By exploiting this weakness, an attacker can cause the Certification Authority (CA) to follow an attacker-controlled host for identity data, enabling them to impersonate a Domain Controller. This can lead to significant compromise of domain services, including the ability to obtain a certificate representing a privileged account and authenticate to services as that principal. Microsoft released a security update in July 2026 to address this issue.
- Description
- Improper authorization in Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.
- Source
- secure@microsoft.com
- NVD status
- Analyzed
- Products
- windows_10_1607, windows_10_1809, windows_server_2012, windows_server_2016, windows_server_2019, windows_server_2022, windows_server_2025
CVSS 3.1
- Type
- Secondary
- Base score
- 8.8
- Impact score
- 5.9
- Exploitability score
- 2.8
- Vector string
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Severity
- HIGH
- secure@microsoft.com
- CWE-285
Hype score is a measure of social media activity compared against trending CVEs from the past 12 months. Max score 100.
- Hype score
10
1/3 A low privileged Active Directory user can impersonate a domain controller. A public exploit for CVE-2026-54121 dropped July 24, abusing Enterprise CA certificate issuance to seize the whole domain. Is your AD CS patched? #CyberSecurity #InfoSec #CVE https://t.co/F6cWIMiHyv
@CyberTLDR
25 Jul 2026
369 Impressions
0 Retweets
4 Likes
3 Bookmarks
1 Reply
0 Quotes
GitHub - tc4dy/CVE-2026-54121-PoC-Exploit: 👻 CVE-2026-54121 - Best CertiGhost AD CS Multi-Exploit Framework ⚡Weaponized tool with rogue DC/LDAP servers, certificate abuse, PKINIT hash extraction. Features: detect safe check, exploit full multi-threaded. https://t.co/kDsO6JcT
@akaclandestine
25 Jul 2026
4960 Impressions
30 Retweets
97 Likes
70 Bookmarks
0 Replies
0 Quotes
A low-privileged user can steal a Domain Controller certificate using the Certighost flaw. Learn how CVE-2026-54121 works and why you need to patch now. For More: https://t.co/YgXZiLbCYF #Certighost #ActiveDirectory #ADCS #CVE #Cybersecurity #Kerberos #InfoSec #PatchTuesday htt
@redsecuretech
25 Jul 2026
63 Impressions
1 Retweet
1 Like
0 Bookmarks
0 Replies
0 Quotes
‼️ PoC released for CVE-2026-54121 codenamed Certighost CVE-2026-54121 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in Active Directory Certificate Services that enables authorized attackers to elevate privileges. GitHub: https://t.co/puZfbilIlL https://t.co/9TzORX7x5z
@DarkWebInformer
24 Jul 2026
9463 Impressions
11 Retweets
40 Likes
24 Bookmarks
1 Reply
0 Quotes
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