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Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-78604 · published 2 September 2026

CVE-2026-78604: Elastic agent incorrect permission assignment vulnerability

Elastic · Elastic Agent

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.

7.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 0.15% · top 96.5% CWE-732 · Incorrect permission assignment
7.8CVSS 3.1 base score
0.15%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
1References
4 Sep 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

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.

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

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-agent-8-19-21-9-4-6-9-5-2-security-update-esa-2026-150/390109 Vendor Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-78604), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.