AISEC > Security News > Zero Day > Microsoft Patch Tuesday February 2026: 6 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
February 10, 2026 #zero-day Source: Krebs on Security 3 min read · 659 words

Patch Tuesday, February 2026 Edition

Patch Tuesday, лютий 2026 року

Microsoft just dropped patches for over 50 security vulnerabilities across Windows and related software. But here's what makes February 2026's Patch Tuesday different: six of those flaws are zero-days actively being exploited by attackers right now. Not in labs. Not in controlled environments. In the wild, against real organizations.

If you're reading this and thinking "I'll patch next month," you're already behind.

What We Know

According to Krebs on Security, Microsoft released this bundle on February 10, 2026. The six zero-day vulnerabilities represent actual attacks happening as we speak—meaning adversaries discovered and weaponized these flaws before Microsoft even knew about them. That's the gap we're all terrified of. And it happened.

The remaining 44+ vulnerabilities in this month's patch run the gamut. Some are serious. Others are less critical but still exploitable under the right circumstances. Windows vulnerability management teams are already triaging, trying to figure out which systems to patch first.

Timeline matters here.

The moment these zero-days went public, attackers who hadn't yet developed exploits suddenly had a roadmap. Organizations running unpatched systems became active targets. There's no grace period for zero-days—the clock started at disclosure, not at your next scheduled maintenance window.

How It Works

Here's the technical breakdown. A zero-day vulnerability exists in software that nobody—including the vendor—knows about. Attackers find it first. They build an exploit. They use it against targets. Then, eventually, someone tips off the vendor, or the vendor discovers it independently. Microsoft gets notified, reverses the attack, identifies the root cause, writes code to fix it, tests that code, and releases it as part of Patch Tuesday.

That's a compressed timeline in the best case.

The real question is: how long were these six flaws being exploited before anyone caught them? Days? Weeks? Months? We don't know yet, and that uncertainty is exactly why vulnerability patch Tuesday issues keep security teams awake at night. Even after you patch, you're left wondering what damage was already done on unpatched systems.

Windows vulnerability research teams are already analyzing the patches to understand what attackers could do with these flaws. Full technical details will emerge within days. Once they do, the exploit code won't be far behind—even for the organizations that patch immediately.

Why It Matters

Six actively exploited zero-days in a single Patch Tuesday drop is bad. It signals that attackers aren't just finding random flaws—they're systematically hunting for vulnerabilities in widely-deployed software and monetizing them before vendors can respond.

Your Windows vulnerability list just got longer.

If you're responsible for a Windows vulnerability scanner or managing patches across your environment, you're now in fire-fighting mode. Prioritize. Triage. Deploy. Test. Rollback if needed. The standard patch Tuesday rhythm doesn't apply when you're dealing with real exploitation in the wild.

And here's what stings: some of these flaws probably should have been caught sooner. Frankly, the gap between discovery and exploitation is a failure point in the entire vulnerability ecosystem. Microsoft patches vulnerabilities. Attackers find others before disclosure happens. The cycle continues. Windows vulnerability 2025 and 2026 data will reflect this trend—zero-days are becoming more common, not less.

Next Steps

Deploy these patches immediately on critical systems. Don't wait for Thursday or next week. If you've got internet-facing Windows infrastructure, patch today. Test in non-production if you can, but don't use testing as an excuse to delay deployment on production systems that are exposed to attack.

Run your Windows vulnerability scanner right now against your infrastructure. Identify unpatched systems. Prioritize anything connected to the internet or handling sensitive data. For systems you can't patch immediately, implement compensating controls—network segmentation, threat detection, endpoint monitoring.

Document what you patch and when. You're going to need that log if any of these vulnerabilities were exploited against you before you knew they existed. Forensic investigators are going to be busy for months.

Watch for exploit Wednesday—the historical pattern where public exploits appear within days of Patch Tuesday release. When that happens, the pressure on unpatched organizations spikes sharply.

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// FAQ

Should I patch immediately or wait for testing?

For the six zero-day vulnerabilities actively being exploited, patch immediately on critical systems. Testing delays increase your risk of being actively compromised. Non-critical systems can follow standard change procedures, but don't defer indefinitely.

How do I know if my Windows systems were already compromised?

Run endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to hunt for exploitation indicators. Check Windows event logs for suspicious activity around the vulnerable components. Consider engaging incident response if you find evidence of breach activity.

What should I do if I can't patch immediately?

Isolate systems from untrusted networks, disable unnecessary services related to the vulnerable code, monitor heavily with EDR/SIEM tools, and implement network segmentation to limit lateral movement if compromise occurs.

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