CVE-2026-116638 - The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in Windows 10 and 11 may allow an attacker to bypass firmware security controls
The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) in Windows 10 and 11 may allow an attacker to bypass firmware security controls, including administrator-configured UEFI/BIOS passwords. An attacker with physical or administrative access to a device may be able to leverage WinRE-related boot mechanisms to circumvent firmware protections and gain unauthorized access to system resources.
INFORMATIONAL
Severity & confidence
Source severityinformational
Platform severityinformational
Confidencehigh
Exploitationunknown
CVSS-
Affected
Reporting sources (1)
NIST NVD - National Vulnerability Database
Timeline & provenance
Published2026-10-26T19:16:31
Last updated2026-10-29T19:11:41
Ingested2026-10-27T12:33:28
FreshnessNEAR-REAL-TIME
Threat typevulnerability
Recommended action
No recommended action published with this item - review the original source.
Next steps
- Identify affected systems in your environment.
- Apply the vendor patch or mitigation guidance.
- Review logs for indicators described in the advisory.
- Follow the affected vendor/product to track updates.
Confidence explanation
Reported by a government or cert-grade source (CISA, NCSC, NVD, ENISA, MSRC).
Source type: standards ยท Original: NIST NVD - National Vulnerability Database