Administrator escalation via unchecked user edit parameters
Published Mar 15, 2026 · Updated Mar 16, 2026
Privilege escalation in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.5.0 allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator access via a crafted POST request. The user edit endpoint accepts accessLevel=admin and advanced-user flags from a read-only session and applies them without enforcing the account's assigned role. A valid read-only account and network access to Engine Manager are required; successful exploitation grants full administrative control.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.5.0 allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator access via a crafted POST request. The user edit endpoint accepts accessLevel=admin and advanced-user flags from a read-only session and applies them without enforcing the account's assigned role. A valid read-only account and network access to Engine Manager are required; successful exploitation grants full administrative control.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2016-20034
- Published
- Mar 15, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 16, 2026
- Vendor
- Wowza Media Systems
- Product
- Wowza Streaming Engine
- Classifications
- CWE-352, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 16, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=4.5.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- Wowza Streaming Engine 4.5.0 Remote Privilege Escalationproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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