Windows "Exclusive Read" for file I/O operations is a real security threat
07:21 23 Feb 2026

Even though Microsoft denies it as a flow all modern operating systems (iOS/Android) would immediately identify it as a real security issue: "Exclusive Read" lock to Read-Only files.

From a modern security viewpoint, the ability to take exclusive‑read locks on another application’s files is a security weakness. In windows the default "open file" behavior is exactly this. No other process can read the file i open with read-access. So an App A can open a file as "exclusive read" of App B. Then App B which is the Write-Owner of that file can not open it anymore and will not run.

If windows would be a mobile OS it would be ... well ... but no we fuzz about some virtual processor bugs - and windows stays in the 1980's and is still allowed to run.

windows security file-access