Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Description frames it as elevating an ordinary group's access, implying an authenticated low-privileged account (PR:L) that gains root via a scope-changing authorization flaw with full CIA impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (SolarWinds).
CVSS VectorVendor: SolarWinds
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
SolarWinds Serv-U is affected by a privilege escalation vulnerability. This would elevate a group’s access to system administrator and allow code execution as root. The impact is lower in Windows deployments.
AnalysisAI
Privilege escalation in SolarWinds Serv-U lets an authenticated group member elevate their access to system administrator and execute code as root on Linux/Unix deployments, with reduced impact on Windows. The root cause is improper authorization (CWE-285) reachable over the network; the vendor rates it CVSS 9.1 due to a scope change and full CIA impact, but there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and it is not in CISA KEV. Fixed in the Serv-U 2026-3 release.
Technical ContextAI
SolarWinds Serv-U is a managed file transfer (MFT) server supporting FTP/FTPS/SFTP and HTTP(S) that administers users, groups, and domains. The flaw is CWE-285 (Improper Authorization): Serv-U fails to correctly enforce the authorization boundary between an ordinary group's privileges and the system administrator role, allowing a group's effective access to be promoted to administrator. Because the Serv-U service on Linux/Unix runs with high OS privilege, that escalation becomes code execution as root; the Windows service privilege model constrains the outcome, which is why the vendor notes lower impact there. The affected CPE is cpe:2.3:a:solarwinds:serv-u:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*, i.e. the Serv-U application in versions prior to the 2026-3 fix.
RemediationAI
Upgrade to SolarWinds Serv-U 2026-3, which contains the fix (Vendor-released patch: Serv-U 2026-3); consult the release notes at https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/servu/content/release_notes/servu_2026-3_release_notes.htm and the advisory at https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/CVE-2026-28312 for exact build numbers. Until patching, shrink the attacker population by auditing existing group memberships and administrator assignments and removing unnecessary user accounts, since exploitation requires an authenticated foothold. Restrict network exposure of the Serv-U management and service interfaces to trusted networks or a VPN rather than the public internet (trade-off: disrupts remote admin/file-transfer workflows), and prioritize patching Linux/Unix hosts first because that is where the outcome is root-level code execution, per the vendor's own note that Windows impact is lower.
Remote denial-of-service in SolarWinds Serv-U allows unauthenticated attackers to crash the Serv-U service by sending sp
Microsoft discovered a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in the SolarWinds Serv-U product utilizing a Remote Mem
SolarWinds Serv-U was susceptible to a directory transversal vulnerability that would allow access to read sensitive fil
In SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.2.2 Hotfix 1, there is a directory containing user profile files (that include users' pas
FTP Voyager 16.2.0 contains a denial of service vulnerability that allows local attackers to crash the application by in
A denial of service vulnerability in SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.1.6 HFv1 allows an authenticated user to crash the appl
Share/IncomingWizard.htm in SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.2.3 mishandles the user-supplied SenderEmail parameter, aka "Sha
Privilege escalation in SolarWinds Serv-U allows an authenticated domain administrator account to abuse an insecure dire
Privilege-scoped remote code execution in SolarWinds Serv-U managed file transfer server stems from an insecure direct o
Privilege-to-root remote code execution in SolarWinds Serv-U managed file transfer server stems from an insecure direct
Remote code execution in SolarWinds Serv-U managed file transfer/FTP server allows an attacker to run arbitrary code rem
Privilege escalation to remote code execution as root in SolarWinds Serv-U stems from an insecure direct object referenc
Same weakness CWE-285 – Improper Authorization
View allSame technique Authentication Bypass
View allShare
External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-46292
GHSA-3r39-m2vf-jxmp