Matrix42 Empirum CVE-2026-57919
HIGHSeverity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local-only attack needing an existing low-privileged account (AV:L/PR:L), trivially executed with no user interaction (AC:L/UI:N), yielding full SYSTEM compromise (C:H/I:H/A:H).
Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).
CVSS VectorVendor: mitre
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
PBackupVSS.exe in Matrix42 Empirum before 25.5 and 26.x before 26.2 creates a named pipe (\\.\pipe\PBackupVSS) with a DACL that grants GENERIC_READ and GENERIC_WRITE permissions to all authenticated users. A low-privileged local attacker can connect to this pipe and send crafted IPC messages to trigger execution of arbitrary commands with SYSTEM privileges via an untrusted search path. This allows privilege escalation by placing a malicious shadow.exe in a controlled working directory.
AnalysisAI
Local privilege escalation in Matrix42 Empirum (versions before 25.5 and 26.x before 26.2) lets any authenticated low-privileged user gain SYSTEM execution by abusing the PBackupVSS.exe service's named pipe. The pipe \\.\pipe\PBackupVSS is created with an overly permissive DACL granting GENERIC_READ/GENERIC_WRITE to all authenticated users, so an attacker can send crafted IPC messages that drive the SYSTEM-level service into running an attacker-supplied shadow.exe from a controlled working directory. No public exploit identified at time of analysis and the issue is not listed in CISA KEV, but exploitation is mechanically straightforward once on the host.
Technical ContextAI
The flaw lives in the Empirum Personal Backup component (PBackupVSS.exe), a Windows service that interacts with the Volume Shadow Copy Service and runs as SYSTEM. It exposes an inter-process control channel via a Windows named pipe. The root cause is a combination of two weaknesses: an incorrect/over-broad discretionary access control list (DACL) on the pipe object (CWE-732, Incorrect Permission Assignment for a Critical Resource) that exposes a privileged IPC endpoint to the Authenticated Users group, and an uncontrolled/untrusted search path (CWE-426/CWE-427) where the service resolves and launches a helper binary (shadow.exe) from a working directory the attacker can influence. Because the service does not validate the caller's privilege level or use a fully qualified, trusted path for the spawned executable, a normal user can coerce SYSTEM into executing arbitrary code. CWE was reported as N/A in the source feed; the classes above are inferred from the description.
RemediationAI
Upgrade to a fixed release: Vendor-released patch is Empirum 25.5 (for the pre-25.5 branch) or 26.2 (for the 26.x branch) or later - install the version matching your deployment branch. Consult the vendor advisory at https://docs.matrix42.com/en_US/1041748_vulnerability-list/cve-2026-57919-privilege-escalation-in-empirum-personal-backup before deploying. Where immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by limiting which accounts can log in interactively to systems running the Empirum Personal Backup service, since the attack requires a local authenticated session; on servers or managed endpoints, removing standard-user interactive logon rights largely neutralizes the issue but does not help on shared multi-user hosts. If the Personal Backup feature is not in use, disabling or stopping the PBackupVSS service removes the vulnerable pipe entirely, at the cost of losing shadow-copy backup functionality. Restricting or monitoring access to the \\.\pipe\PBackupVSS named pipe and watching for unexpected shadow.exe spawns from non-standard directories can serve as detective controls, but these do not fully prevent exploitation and patching remains the primary fix.
LibreNMS before 24.10.0 allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code via OS command injection involving AboutContr
Reachable assertion in Open5GS up to version 2.7.6 allows remote unauthenticated attackers to crash the Diameter CER han
A Command Injection issue in the payload build page in BYOB (Build Your Own Botnet) 2.0 allows attackers to execute arbi
Denial of service in Open5GS 2.7.6 and earlier allows network-adjacent attackers with low-privilege Diameter Gx peer acc
Denial of service in Open5GS HSS (Home Subscriber Server) versions 2.7.0 through 2.7.6 is triggered remotely by manipula
Remote command injection in Control Web Panel allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands as root
LINQPad before 5.52.01 Pro edition is vulnerable to Unsafe Deserialization in LINQPad.AutoRefManager::PopulateFromCache(
Remote code execution in dash-uploader (Python package for Plotly Dash) versions 0.1.0 through 0.7.0a2 allows unauthenti
Command injection in LiteLLM 1.18.10 lets attackers who can configure MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers supply arbitr
SQL injection in AzuraCast's backup restore flow (versions up to and including 0.23.7) lets an attacker achieve privileg
Arbitrary file read in Yu AI Code Mother v4.3 lets anonymous, remote attackers retrieve files outside the intended previ
Remote code execution in APScheduler (all versions through 3.10.x and 4.0.0a5) is achievable when applications deseriali
Same weakness CWE-276 – Incorrect Default Permissions
View allSame technique Privilege Escalation
View allShare
External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today