Microsoft Security Advisory CVE-2026-96960 - .NET and Visual Studio Denial of Service Vulnerability
The source advisory has changed since this explanation was prepared. Check the current technical data and original advisory below.
Microsoft has released a security advisory concerning a denial of service vulnerability in System.Security.Cryptography.Xml and System.Private.Xml.
Signed XML fixes introduce input-depth and operation-count limits, prohibit DTD processing by default, validate entity references, bound encrypted-data candidate processing, and cap attributes and namespaces used by C14N transforms.
Announcement & CVSS Details
- Announcement: https://github.com/dotnet/announcements/issues/490
- CVSS Version: 3.1
- Severity: High
- Score: 7.5
- Vector:
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness: CWE-405 (Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification))
Affected Platforms
- Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS
- Architectures: All
Affected Packages
This vulnerability impacts Microsoft .NET projects utilizing any of the following package versions:
| Package name | Affected version | Patched version |
|---|---|---|
| System.Security.Cryptography.Xml | >= 10.0.0, <= 10.0.12 | 10.0.13 |
| System.Security.Cryptography.Xml | >= 11.0.0-preview.1, <= 11.0.0-rc.1 | 11.0.0-rc.2 |
| System.Security.Cryptography.Xml | >= 8.0.0, <= 8.0.4 | 8.0.5 |
| System.Security.Cryptography.Xml | >= 9.0.0, <= 9.0.20 | 9.0.21 |
Other Information
- Reporting Security Issues: Potential security issues in supported versions of .NET can be reported to the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) via the MSRC Researcher Portal.. Additional information is available in the MSRC Report an Issue FAQ.. Details on the Microsoft .NET Bounty Program can be found at https://aka.ms/corebounty..
- Support: Inquiries may be directed to the .NET GitHub organization at https://github.com/dotnet/runtime.. The Announcements repository (https://github.com/dotnet/Announcements) hosts this bulletin as an issue with an associated discussion thread.
- External Links: CVE-2026-96960
- Acknowledgements: Coşkun Bağrıaçık; Dr.-Ing Ashar Javed (@soaj1664ashar)
- Revisions: V1.0 (10/13/2026): Advisory published.
- Disclaimer: The information provided in this advisory is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Microsoft disclaims all warranties, either express or implied.
What to do
To resolve the issue:
- Install the latest version of .NET. If you have installed one or more .NET SDKs through Visual Studio, Visual Studio will prompt you to update Visual Studio, which will also update your .NET SDKs.
- If your application references the vulnerable package, update the package reference to the patched version. You can list the versions you have installed by running the
dotnet --infocommand.
Once the updated runtime or SDK is installed, restart your applications for the update to take effect.
Additionally, if you have deployed self-contained applications targeting any of the impacted versions, these applications are also vulnerable and must be recompiled and redeployed.
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| .NET (NuGet) | System.Security.Cryptography.Xml | >= 10.0.0, < 10.0.13, >= 11.0.0-preview.1, < 11.0.0-rc.2, >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.5, >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.21 | 10.0.13, 11.0.0-rc.2, 8.0.5, 9.0.21 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-405- Platform
- .NET (NuGet)
- Package
System.Security.Cryptography.Xml- Disclosed
- 13.10.2026
- Updated
- 19.10.2026 19:17
Sources and licenses · Edited or translated by DockRay; source rights and applicable licenses are retained.
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-7hqp-7c5m-4vq6 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: System.Security.Cryptography.Xml
All published vulnerabilities of this package (.NET (NuGet)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 14
- First → latest
- 10.2018 10.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- High 13
- Medium 1
Disclosures per year
- 2018: 2
- 2019: 0
- 2020: 0
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 0
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 1
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 11
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Microsoft Security Advisory CVE-2026-96960 - .NET and Visual Studio Denial of Service Vulnerability this entry
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