Article
February 2026 Patch Tuesday: Key Vulnerabilities Overview
Introduction
Microsoft’s February security update addresses over 50 vulnerabilities, including several critical issues. Many of these flaws, particularly those allowing elevation of privilege and affecting platforms like Azure and Windows components, could be exploited by attackers to compromise your business. Importantly, some of these vulnerabilities are potentially exploitable over the internet, making prompt updates essential. In this article, we provide an overview of this month’s patches and highlight the most notable security issues that require immediate attention.
Summary of February 2026 Patch Tuesday
This February, Microsoft focused on closing security gaps actively targeted by cybercriminals and vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive data. With over 50 security issues addressed, including some actively exploited by hackers, it’s crucial to take action. Notable vulnerabilities affect everyday tools like Windows and Microsoft Office, as well as online services like Azure. These updates are essential for maintaining security in our digital lives, especially for products used online.
Understanding these updates is crucial in protecting enterprise environments. Below, we categorize the vulnerabilities based on their exposure to the internet.
Updates are listed according to their CVSS Score
Exposed to internet 
February 2026 Patch Tuesday
Internal Network
Exposed to the Internet
Azure Front Door – Elevation of Privilege
Azure Front Door, a global and scalable entry point for applications, faces a critical elevation of privilege vulnerability. Attackers can exploit this flaw to manipulate access controls without requiring user interaction, severely impacting the security posture of connected systems.
Azure Arc – Privilege Escalation
Azure Arc, extending Azure management across infrastructures, has a critical vulnerability facilitating privilege escalation due to improper access control. This flaw could allow attackers to gain unauthorized privileges, compromising management and governance of environments.
Azure Function – Information Disclosure
Azure Functions, a serverless compute service, has an information disclosure vulnerability. This issue could expose sensitive information without user interaction, potentially leading to unauthorized access to critical data processed by Azure Functions.
Microsoft ACI Confidential Containers – Elevation of Privilege
Microsoft ACI Confidential Containers, part of Azure’s confidential computing offerings, contains an elevation of privilege vulnerability. A command injection flaw enables attackers to gain elevated privileges, undermining the security of workloads in trusted execution environments.
Internal Network
Windows Shell – Security Feature Bypass
Windows Shell, serving as the primary user interface component for the Windows operating system, has a security feature bypass vulnerability. This flaw is actively exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code without triggering user warnings, posing a significant security risk.
MSHTML Framework – Security Feature Bypass
The MSHTML Framework, a core browser engine responsible for rendering HTML content in Windows applications, has a zero-day vulnerability. This publicly disclosed flaw allows attackers to bypass security features, executing attacker-defined content, leading to potential malicious script execution.
Windows Remote Desktop Services – Elevation of Privilege
Windows Remote Desktop Services, enabling remote desktop and application access, has a critical elevation of privilege vulnerability. This issue permits attackers to gain SYSTEM-level access, posing severe security threats to organizations relying on remote access capabilities.
Microsoft Word – Security Feature Bypass
Microsoft Word, part of the widely-used Microsoft Office suite, has a security feature bypass vulnerability. This flaw facilitates execution of malicious content by circumventing Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) mitigations, which could lead to unauthorized actions within a document.
Desktop Window Manager – Elevation of Privilege
The Desktop Window Manager, a Windows service responsible for visual effects and managing windows, suffers from an elevation of privilege vulnerability. Attackers could exploit this to gain SYSTEM privileges, thereby compromising the security and integrity of the system.
Windows Remote Access Connection Manager – Denial of Service
Windows Remote Access Connection Manager, which manages VPN and dial-up connections for remote networks, contains a denial of service vulnerability. This is due to a null pointer dereference, potentially disrupting network connectivity by causing the service to crash.
Conclusion
Staying secure online means keeping your software up to date. February’s patches fix serious issues that could lead to data breaches or system takeovers. To protect yourself, ensure your systems receive these updates promptly. Regularly check for software updates, be cautious of unexpected links or files, and consider using security solutions that alert you to potential risks. Staying informed and vigilant is key to a safer digital experience.
Have questions about implementing these patches or securing your IT environment? Schedule a call with At-Bay’s Advisory Services team to get started.
About CVSS
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an industry-standard framework for evaluating and communicating the severity of software vulnerabilities. It provides a numerical score that helps organizations prioritize and address security issues effectively. CVSS scores quantify the severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 (no severity) to 10 (critical severity). CVSS considers multiple factors, including; Exploitability, Impact, Exploit code maturity, Remediation level, Report confidence. The system enables organizations to compare and prioritize vulnerabilities based on their potential impact on IT infrastructure.
References
- https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/releasenote/2026-feb
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/blog/2026/2/10/the-february-2026-security-update-review
- https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/patch-tuesday-analysis-february-2026/
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-february-2026-patch-tuesday-fixes-6-zero-days-58-flaws/
- https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2026/02/10/microsoft-patch-tuesday-february-2026-security-update-review
- https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/02/patch-tuesday-february-2026-edition/