Privilege Escalation
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
How It Works
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted. The attack exploits the gap between what the system thinks a user can do and what they actually can do through manipulation or exploitation.
Vertical escalation is the classic form—a regular user obtaining administrator rights. This happens through kernel exploits that bypass OS-level security, misconfigurations in role-based access control (RBAC) that fail to enforce boundaries, or direct manipulation of authorization tokens and session data. Horizontal escalation involves accessing resources belonging to users at the same privilege level, typically through insecure direct object references (IDOR) where changing an ID in a request grants access to another user's data.
Context-dependent escalation exploits workflow logic by skipping authorization checkpoints. An attacker might access administrative URLs directly without going through proper authentication flows, manipulate parameters to bypass permission checks, or exploit REST API endpoints that don't validate method permissions—like a read-only GET permission that can be leveraged for write operations through protocol upgrades or alternative endpoints.
Impact
- Full system compromise through kernel-level exploits granting root or SYSTEM privileges
- Administrative control over applications, allowing configuration changes, user management, and deployment of malicious code
- Lateral movement across cloud infrastructure, containers, or network segments using escalated service account permissions
- Data exfiltration by accessing databases, file systems, or API endpoints restricted to higher privilege levels
- Persistence establishment through creation of backdoor accounts or modification of system configurations
Real-World Examples
Kubernetes clusters have been compromised through kubelet API misconfigurations where read-only GET permissions on worker nodes could be escalated to remote code execution. Attackers upgraded HTTP connections to WebSockets to access the /exec endpoint, gaining shell access to all pods on the node. This affected over 69 Helm charts including widely-deployed monitoring tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and Datadog agents.
Windows Print Spooler vulnerabilities (PrintNightmare class) allowed authenticated users to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges by exploiting improper privilege checks in the print service. Attackers loaded malicious DLLs through carefully crafted print jobs, escalating from low-privilege user accounts to full domain administrator access.
Cloud metadata services have been exploited where SSRF vulnerabilities combined with over-permissioned IAM roles allowed attackers to retrieve temporary credentials with elevated permissions, pivoting from compromised web applications to broader cloud infrastructure access.
Mitigation
- Enforce deny-by-default access control where permissions must be explicitly granted rather than implicitly allowed
- Implement consistent authorization checks at every layer—API gateway, application logic, and data access—never relying on client-side or single-point validation
- Apply principle of least privilege with time-limited, scope-restricted permissions and just-in-time access for administrative functions
- Audit permission inheritance and role assignments regularly to identify overly permissive configurations or privilege creep
- Separate execution contexts using containers, sandboxes, or capability-based security to limit blast radius
- Deploy runtime monitoring for unusual privilege usage patterns and anomalous access to restricted resources
Recent CVEs (13375)
An issue was discovered in Allegro Windows (formerly Popsy Windows) before 3.3.4156.1. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
There is a Race Condition vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may lead to the user root privilege escalation. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. No vendor patch available.
There is a Parameter injection vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may cause privilege escalation of files after CIFS share mounting. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An improper usage of implicit intent in SemRewardManager prior to SMR Dec-2021 Release 1 allows attackers to access BSSID. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An improper privilege management vulnerability in Apps Edge application prior to SMR Dec-2021 Release 1 allows unauthorized access to some device data on the lockscreen. Rated low severity (CVSS 2.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An improper access control vulnerability [CWE-284] in FortiOS autod daemon 7.0.0, 6.4.6 and below, 6.2.9 and below, 6.0.12 and below and FortiProxy 2.0.1 and below, 1.2.9 and below may allow an. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A SQL Injection vulnerability exists in Ivanti Avalance before 6.3.3 allows an attacker with access to the Inforail Service to perform privilege escalation. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An exposed dangerous function vulnerability exists in Ivanti Avalanche before 6.3.3 using inforail Service allows Privilege Escalation via Enterprise Server Service. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An improper authorization control vulnerability exists in Ivanti Avalanche before 6.3.3 allows an attacker with access to the Inforail Service to perform privilege escalation. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Kaseya Unitrends Backup Appliance before 10.5.5. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Kaseya Unitrends Backup Appliance before 10.5.5. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Kaseya Unitrends Backup Appliance before 10.5.5. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An issue was discovered in Kaseya Unitrends Backup Appliance before 10.5.5. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
An unnecessary privilege vulnerability in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An unnecessary privilege vulnerability in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An unnecessary privilege vulnerability in Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security 10.0 SP1 could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges on affected installations. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Barracuda Network Access Client before 5.2.2 creates a Temporary File in a Directory with Insecure Permissions. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Discourse is an open source discussion platform. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
The AMDPowerProfiler.sys driver of AMD μProf tool may allow lower privileged users to access MSRs in kernel which may lead to privilege escalation and ring-0 code execution by the lower privileged. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Sunnet eHRD has broken access control vulnerability, which allows a remote attacker to access account management page after being authenticated as a general user, then perform privilege escalation to. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition before 2021.11 on Windows has weak file permissions for the embedded H2 database, which might lead to privilege escalation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac 2021 v11 (Consumer) is vulnerable to an improper access control privilege escalation vulnerability that could allow an attacker to establish a connection that could lead. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Missing HTTPOnly flag in Web Applications operating on Business-DNA Solutions GmbH’s TopEase® Platform Version <= 7.1.27 allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to escalate privileges from. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
DLL hijacking could lead to local privilege escalation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity.
When Octopus Tentacle is installed on a Linux operating system, the systemd service file permissions are misconfigured. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Remote attackers may delete arbitrary files in a system hosting a JSPWiki instance, versions up to 2.11.0.M8, by using a carefuly crafted http request on logout, given that those files are reachable. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Windows 10 Update Assistant Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Adobe Creative Cloud version 5.5 (and earlier) are affected by a privilege escalation vulnerability in the resources leveraged by the Setup.exe service. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Incorrect Permission Assignment vulnerability could allow attackers to access resources due to misconfigured permissions.
There is an Improper permission vulnerability in Huawei Smartphone.Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may affect service availability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
A component in Kaspersky Password Manager could allow an attacker to elevate a process Integrity level from Medium to High. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
There is a privilege escalation vulnerability in CloudEngine 5800 V200R020C00SPC600. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
certain VT-d IOMMUs may not work in shared page table mode For efficiency reasons, address translation control structures (page tables) may (and, on suitable hardware, by default will) be shared. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Networking OS10, versions prior to October 2021 with RESTCONF API enabled, contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
An issue was discovered in Quagga through 1.2.4. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Privilege escalation from Editor to Admin using Groups in Concrete CMS versions 8.5.6 and below. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
It was discovered that on Windows operating systems specifically, Kibana was not validating a user supplied path, which would load .pbf files. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible memory corruption due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible memory corruption due to incorrect error handling. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In ccu, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In apusys, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a stack-based buffer overflow. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In edma driver, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In mdlactl driver, there is a possible memory corruption due to an incorrect bounds check. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
In mdlactl driver, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
FreeRTOS versions 10.2.0 through 10.4.5 do not prevent non-kernel code from calling the xPortRaisePrivilege internal function to raise privilege. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in the software installer for the Intel(R) Serial IO driver for Intel(R) NUC 11 Gen before version 30.100.2104.1 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Time-of-check time-of-use vulnerability in the Crypto API Toolkit for Intel(R) SGX may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via network access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.6), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect default permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) oneAPI Rendering Toolkit before version 2021.2 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Uncontrolled search path in the Intel(R) RealSense(TM) D400 Series UWP driver for Windows 10 before version 6.1.160.22 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect default permissions in the software installer for the Intel(R) VTune(TM) Profiler before version 2021.3.0 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in the Intel(R) Administrative Tools for Intel(R) Network Adapters driver for Windows before version 1.4.0.15, may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in the installer Intel(R)Administrative Tools for Intel(R) Network Adaptersfor Windowsbefore version 1.4.0.21 may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Out-of-bounds write in the firmware for Intel(R) Ethernet 700 Series Controllers before version 8.2 may allow a privileged user to potentially enable an escalation of privilege via local access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in the Intel(R) SGX SDK applications compiled for SGX2 enabled processors may allow a privileged user to potentially escalation of privilege via local access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Uncontrolled resource consumption in the Intel(R) HAXM software before version 7.6.6 may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable privilege escalation via local access. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.4), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insufficient control flow management in the BIOS firmware for some Intel(R) Processors may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in the installer for some Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) and Killer(TM) Bluetooth(R) products in Windows 10 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Hardware allows activation of test or debug logic at runtime for some Intel(R) processors which may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via physical access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in the Intel(R) Ethernet Diagnostic Driver for Windows before version 1.4.0.10 may allow a privileged user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.7), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Uncontrolled search path in software installer for Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi in Windows 10 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper input validation in firmware for some Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi in UEFI may allow an unauthenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via adjacent access. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect default permissions in the Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi software installer for Windows 10 before version 22.40 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insecure inherited permissions in the Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi software installer for Windows 10 before version 22.40 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Integer overflow in the Safestring library maintained by Intel(R) may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Unquoted search path in the installer for the Intel(R) NUC M15 Laptop Kit Keyboard LED Service driver pack before version 1.0.0.4 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insecure inherited permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) NUC M15 Laptop Kit Keyboard LED Service driver pack before version 1.0.0.4 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insecure inherited permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) NUC M15 Laptop Kit Serial IO driver pack before version 30.100.2104.1 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect default permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) NUC M15 Laptop Kit HID Event Filter driver pack before version 2.2.1.383 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Insecure inherited permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) NUC M15 Laptop Kit audio driver pack before version 1.3 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect default permissionsin the software installer for the Intel(R) NUC HDMI Firmware Update Tool for NUC10i3FN, NUC10i5FN, NUC10i7FN before version 1.78.2.0.7 may allow an authenticated user to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in the software installer for the Intel(R) NUC HDMI Firmware Update Tool for NUC8i3BE, NUC8i5BE, NUC8i7BE before version 1.78.4.0.4 may allow an authenticated user to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Incorrect default permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) NUC M15 Laptop Kit Integrated Sensor Hub driver pack before version 5.4.1.4449 may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper access control in the installer for some Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe MAX Dedicated Graphics Drivers for Windows 10 before version 27.20.100.9466 may allow authenticated user to potentially enable. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
Improper authentication in the software installer for the Intel(R) NUC HDMI Firmware Update Tool for NUC7i3DN, NUC7i5DN, NUC7i7DN before version 1.78.1.1 may allow an authenticated user to. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity.
Zoho Remote Access Plus Server Windows Desktop Binary fixed from 10.1.2121.1 is affected by incorrect access control. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Zoho Remote Access Plus Server Windows Desktop Binary fixed in 10.1.2132.6 is affected by a sensitive information disclosure vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Modern DRAM devices (PC-DDR4, LPDDR4X) are affected by a vulnerability in their internal Target Row Refresh (TRR) mitigation against Rowhammer attacks. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.3), this vulnerability is no authentication required. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
Dell EMC PowerScale Nodes contain a hardware design flaw. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
An information disclosure vulnerability was reported in the Time Weather system widget on Legion Phone Pro (L79031) and Legion Phone2 Pro (L70081) that could allow other applications to access device. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
The vCenter Server contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity.
Visual Studio Code Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.7). This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Azure RTOS Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Azure RTOS Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Azure RTOS Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.6), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
Quick Facts
- Typical Severity
- HIGH
- Category
- auth
- Total CVEs
- 13375