KEVWire

Security intelligence, with context.

Response snapshot Oct 26, 2026, 23:11 UTC

Back to the wire
Permalink
Advisoryproject-zero-windows-administrator-protection-0ba6cedb52a0

Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection

A headline feature introduced in the latest release of Windows 11, 25H2 is Administrator Protection. The goal of this feature is to replace User Account Control (UAC) with a more robust and importantly, securable system to allow a local user to access administrator privileges only when necessary.

At a glance

Sources
1 source

What to do

Read the exact official research article before applying its defensive techniques or drawing conclusions.

Read Google Project Zero Research: Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection (opens a new tab)

What happened

A headline feature introduced in the latest release of Windows 11, 25H2 is Administrator Protection. The goal of this feature is to replace User Account Control (UAC) with a more robust and importantly, securable system to allow a local user to access administrator privileges only when necessary. This blog post will give a brief overview of the new feature, how it works and how it’s different from UAC.

I’ll then describe some of the security research I undertook while it was in the insider preview builds on Windows 11. Finally I’ll detail one of the nine separate vulnerabilities that I found to bypass the feature to silently gain full administrator privileges.

All the issues that I reported to Microsoft have been fixed, either prior to the feature being officially released (in optional update KB5067036) or as subsequent security bulletins. Note: As of 1st December 2025 the Administrator Protection feature has been disabled by Microsoft while an application compatibility issue is dealt with.

The issue is unlikely to be related to anything described in this blog post so the analysis doesn’t change.

Sources

  1. Primary source

    Google Project Zero Research: Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection (opens a new tab)

    Exact official article/advisory identified by the feed; title, source dates, and any supplied article excerpt.

    Published Checked

  2. Primary source

    Google Project Zero Research syndication feed (opens a new tab)

    The RSS/Atom/RDF entry supplied this exact link and any available title, date, and excerpt.

    Published Date not suppliedChecked

Cite this record

For factual claims, cite the primary sources above; cite KEVWire for its compilation, dates, and classifications.

APA

KEVWire. (2026, January 26). Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection. https://kevwire.com/record/project-zero-windows-administrator-protection-0ba6cedb52a0

MLA

"Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection." KEVWire, 26 Jan. 2026, kevwire.com/record/project-zero-windows-administrator-protection-0ba6cedb52a0.

Chicago

KEVWire. "Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection." Last modified January 26, 2026. https://kevwire.com/record/project-zero-windows-administrator-protection-0ba6cedb52a0.

Evidence summary (plain text)

Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection (Jan 26, 2026).
A headline feature introduced in the latest release of Windows 11, 25H2 is Administrator Protection. The goal of this feature is to replace User Account Control (UAC) with a more robust and importantly, securable system to allow a local user to access administrator privileges only when necessary. This blog post will give a brief overview of the new feature, how it works and how it’s different from UAC. I’ll then describe some of the security research I undertook while it was in the insider preview builds on Windows 11. Finally I’ll detail one of the nine separate vulnerabilities that I found to bypass the feature to silently gain full administrator privileges. All the issues that I reported to Microsoft have been fixed, either prior to the feature being officially released (in optional update KB5067036) or as subsequent security bulletins. Note: As of 1st December 2025 the Administrator Protection feature has been disabled by Microsoft while an application compatibility issue is dealt with. The issue is unlikely to be related to anything described in this blog post so the analysis doesn’t change.
Sources:
Google Project Zero Research: Bypassing Windows Administrator Protection: https://projectzero.google/2026/26/windows-administrator-protection.html
Google Project Zero Research syndication feed: https://projectzero.google/feed.xml
Record ID: project-zero-windows-administrator-protection-0ba6cedb52a0.
Record origin: Ingested record.
AI evidence: Not assessed.
About this data

This record was ingested from a data source. Retrieved: Oct 26, 2026, 22:35 UTC. Ingestion is not an independent editorial investigation.

This is an excerpt of official research, not a reproduced result or evidence of exposure to a scored vulnerability.

Technology tags indicate possible relevance, not verified exposure. Confirm the affected product, version, and configuration against your own inventory; KEVWire does not scan your systems.

A personal reading checklist on this device, not verified remediation.

Record JSON

Your account

Email alerts

Email alerts are not available yet. To follow your stack today, use its RSS feed, which honors your filters, or connect an AI agent through the API.

Suggest an improvement

Ideas, missing sources, corrections, and bugs are all welcome. No account needed. Suggestions are reviewed by a person before anything changes.

Record details

Record detail