Microsoft Warns of Windows Remote Assistance Security Bypass Vulnerability

Microsoft has disclosed a new security vulnerability in Windows Remote Assistance that could allow local attackers to bypass critical security features on affected systems.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20824, was publicly disclosed on January 13, 2026, and has been assigned an “Important” severity rating by the software giant.

The vulnerability stems from a failure of a protection mechanism within Windows Remote Assistance, a legitimate Microsoft feature that enables remote support and system troubleshooting.

According to the vulnerability disclosure, attackers with local system access could exploit this flaw to bypass security controls and gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-693, which relates to protection mechanism failures, a category of weaknesses that undermine the effectiveness of security controls designed to protect system resources.

Technical Details and Exploitability

The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 5.5, indicating a moderate risk. The attack requires local system access and no special privileges, though user interaction is required for successful exploitation.

The vulnerability does not enable code execution, privilege escalation, or system availability attacks; instead, it focuses on confidentiality impacts through information disclosure.

According to Microsoft’s exploitability assessment, the vulnerability is currently rated as “Exploitation Less Likely,” indicating that widespread attacks have not been observed in the wild as of the disclosure date.

The attack vector is entirely local, meaning an attacker must have direct access to an affected system to exploit the flaw.

This characteristic somewhat limits the immediate threat landscape compared to remotely exploitable vulnerabilities.

However, for organizations with inadequate physical security controls or those managing shared computing environments, the risk remains significant.

Microsoft has released an official fix for this vulnerability as part of its security update cycle. Users and administrators are strongly advised to apply the latest Windows security updates immediately, particularly for systems that rely on Remote Assistance.

Organizations should prioritize patching systems that expose Remote Assistance capabilities across their networks, especially those handling sensitive data or critical operations.

In the interim, organizations considering a temporary workaround should evaluate restricting access to Windows Remote Assistance through Group Policy settings or disabling the feature on systems where remote support is not essential.

Additionally, enforcing strict physical access controls and monitoring Remote Assistance activity logs can help detect suspicious exploitation attempts.

This vulnerability underscores the ongoing importance of regular security patching and vulnerability management within enterprise environments.

While the current exploitability assessment suggests active exploitation is unlikely, organizations should remain vigilant, as threat actors continually research and develop new attack techniques.

Microsoft’s MSRC team continues to monitor the threat landscape and will provide updates if the exploitation status changes.

Organizations relying on Windows Remote Assistance should treat this disclosure with appropriate urgency and begin deployment of security patches immediately across their infrastructure.

Attribute	Details
CVE Identifier	CVE-2026-20824
Vulnerability Type	Security Feature Bypass

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