CVE-2026-78604 HIGH

CVE-2026-78604: Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource in Elastic Agent Leading to Local Privilege Escalation to SYSTEM

Vendor Elastic
Product Elastic Agent
Weakness CWE-732
Published September 2, 2026
Last update September 3, 2026
View on NVD All CVEs

CVSS base score

7.8/10
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity High

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource (CWE-732) in Elastic Agent can lead to local privilege escalation via Replace Binaries (CAPEC-642). On Windows systems where Elastic Agent is installed in unprivileged mode, resources used by the agent service are created with access controls broader than required. A local user could take advantage of this to cause the service to execute code of their choosing, ultimately obtaining SYSTEM-level privileges on the host.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

September 2, 2026 CVE published
September 3, 2026 Record updated