Microsoft's Windows Recall AI Logs Screen Activity Every Five Seconds — Creating a Local Plaintext Database Easily Extracted by Malware
A laptop user types a password or reads a private message while the operating system quietly photographs the screen every five seconds. Unveiled by Microsoft on May 20, 2024 for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs, Windows Recall uses local optical character recognition to index every window, document, and website into a searchable timeline. Microsoft claims in its support documentation that snapshots remain private because they stay on the local drive and are encrypted by BitLocker.
The flaw hits the moment a user logs into their Windows account. While Microsoft markets Recall as a photographic memory for finding past work, security researcher Kevin Beaumont revealed on June 3, 2024 that Recall writes its extracted text into an unencrypted SQLite plaintext database inside the user's AppData folder. Ethical hacker Alex Hagenah proved the risk by releasing TotalRecall on GitHub, an automated tool that injects into AIXHost.exe to copy months of screenshots, Signal disappearing messages, and banking details in seconds—even after Microsoft added Windows Hello prompts.
Where this appears to be heading is the normalization of operating-system surveillance that turns personal computers into pre-packaged targets for commodity infostealers. According to Microsoft's European Economic Area export documentation, Recall also generates an export code allowing third-party apps and websites to decrypt and ingest user snapshot archives. Once a single phished download, domestic abuser, or subpoena accesses that consolidated archive, years of private life are exposed at once.
Every Windows 11 Copilot+ user is affected when the operating system itself functions like a built-in keylogger and screen scraper. No federal consumer cybersecurity law bans software vendors from shipping local surveillance databases that bypass end-to-end encryption in apps like Signal or WhatsApp. Users should read Microsoft's "Retrace your steps with Recall" support documentation and immediately open "Turn Windows features on or off" in the taskbar search box to uncheck and remove Recall completely.
Sources
"Microsoft should recall Windows Recall" — Security researcher discovers Microsoft's new AI tool is woefully insecure
windowscentral.com
Details Zac Bowden's June 4, 2024 report on how Windows Recall stores indexed screen activity in an unencrypted local database accessible while a user is logged in.
GitHub - xaitax/TotalRecall: This tool extracts and displays data from the Recall feature in Windows 11
xaitax/TotalRecall
Provides ethical hacker Alex Hagenah's open-source extraction tool demonstrating how processes can bypass Recall's access controls and harvest saved screenshots and OCR text.
Blog - Privacy of Windows Copilot+ Recall - Michael Tsai
mjtsai.com
Documents security researcher Kevin Beaumont's findings that Windows Recall captures disappearing messages and writes user activity into an easily exfiltrated SQLite database.
Retrace your steps with Recall | Microsoft Support
support.microsoft.com
Outlines Microsoft's official operational documentation for Windows Recall, including how the feature captures snapshots and the exact steps required to remove it via Windows Features.
Privacy and control over your Recall experience | Microsoft Support
support.microsoft.com
Contains Microsoft's official claims regarding local device storage, Windows Hello authentication, and sensitive information filtering for Copilot+ PC snapshots.
119 points · 2 comments
Mentions
CVE-2024-21413: MonikerLink Outlook Vulnerability PoC PoC: xaitax/CVE-2024-21413-Microsoft-Outlook-Remote-Code-Execution-Vulnerability t.co
CVE-2024-21413: MonikerLink Outlook Vulnerability PoC PoC: xaitax/CVE-2024-21413-Microsoft-Outlook-Remote-Code-Execution-Vulnerability
@MikeyNohMore If you have the flag plugin for web browsers it's interesting how quickly you can track that a lot of the "solidarity" is coming from all across Europe. It makes it very easy to see how big of a problem they have. xaitax/x-account-location-device t.co
@SCHIZO_FREQ I use this xaitax/x-account-location-device
@MrLeadslinger like this? xaitax/x-account-location-device t.co
Microsoft's Windows Recall AI Logs Screen Activity Every Five Seconds — Creating a Local Plaintext Database Easily Extracted by Malware A laptop user types a password or reads a private message while the operating system quietly photographs the screen every five seconds. Unveiled by Microsoft on May 20, 2024 for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs, Windows Recall uses local optical character recognition to index every window, document, and website into a searchable timeline. Microsoft claims in its support documentation that snapshots remain private because they stay on the local drive and are encrypted by BitLocker. The flaw hits the moment a user logs into their Windows account. While Microsoft markets Recall as a photographic memory for finding past work, security researcher Kevin Beaumont revealed on June 3, 2024 that Recall writes its extracted text into an unencrypted SQLite plaintext database inside the user's AppData folder. Ethical hacker Alex Hagenah proved the risk by releasing TotalRecall on GitHub, an automated tool that injects into AIXHost.exe to copy months of screenshots, Signal disappearing messages, and banking details in seconds—even after Microsoft added Windows Hello prompts. Where this appears to be heading is the normalization of operating-system surveillance that turns personal computers into pre-packaged targets for commodity infostealers. According to Microsoft's European Economic Area export documentation, Recall also generates an export code allowing third-party apps and websites to decrypt and ingest user snapshot archives. Once a single phished download, domestic abuser, or subpoena accesses that consolidated archive, years of private life are exposed at once. Every Windows 11 Copilot+ user is affected when the operating system itself functions like a built-in keylogger and screen scraper. No federal consumer cybersecurity law bans software vendors from shipping local surveillance databases that bypass end-to-end encryption in apps like Signal or WhatsApp. Users should read Microsoft's "Retrace your steps with Recall" support documentation and immediately open "Turn Windows features on or off" in the taskbar search box to uncheck and remove Recall completely. Sources "Microsoft should recall Windows Recall" — Security researcher discovers Microsoft's new AI tool is woefully insecure windowscentral.com Details Zac Bowden's June 4, 2024 report on how Windows Recall stores indexed screen activity in an unencrypted local database accessible while a user is logged in. GitHub - xaitax/TotalRecall: This tool extracts and displays data from the Recall feature in Windows 11 xaitax/TotalRecall Provides ethical hacker Alex Hagenah's open-source extraction tool demonstrating how processes can bypass Recall's access controls and harvest saved screenshots and OCR text. Blog - Privacy of Windows Copilot+ Recall - Michael Tsai mjtsai.com Documents security researcher Kevin Beaumont's findings that Windows Recall captures disappearing messages and writes user activity into an easily exfiltrated SQLite database. Retrace your steps with Recall | Microsoft Support support.microsoft.com Outlines Microsoft's official operational documentation for Windows Recall, including how the feature captures snapshots and the exact steps required to remove it via Windows Features. Privacy and control over your Recall experience | Microsoft Support support.microsoft.com Contains Microsoft's official claims regarding local device storage, Windows Hello authentication, and sensitive information filtering for Copilot+ PC snapshots.
@Ruptur3 @DivinaCalamis xaitax/x-account-location-device filter entire regions, filter by country, it'll hide quoted tweets from the regions too