CVE-2026-22561

Local privilege escalation via installer DLL hijacking

Published Mar 31, 2026 · Updated Mar 31, 2026

DLL search-order hijacking in Anthropic Claude Desktop before 1.1.3363 allows local users to execute code with elevated privileges. The Windows Claude Setup.exe installer searches its own directory for profapi.dll after UAC elevation and loads an attacker-planted copy without restricting the lookup to a trusted system path. Exploitation requires a malicious DLL beside the installer and approval of the UAC prompt; successful code runs in the installer's elevated context.

CVSS severity4.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.18%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

DLL search-order hijacking in Anthropic Claude Desktop before 1.1.3363 allows local users to execute code with elevated privileges. The Windows Claude Setup.exe installer searches its own directory for profapi.dll after UAC elevation and loads an attacker-planted copy without restricting the lookup to a trusted system path. Exploitation requires a malicious DLL beside the installer and approval of the UAC prompt; successful code runs in the installer's elevated context.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-22561
Published
Mar 31, 2026
Updated
Mar 31, 2026
Vendor
Anthropic
Product
Claude Desktop
Classifications
CWE-427, T1574.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 31, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 31, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <1.1.3363

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Anthropic · Claude Desktopversion=0 <1.1.3363

Published CVSS scores

4.7HackerOneCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-427Uncontrolled Search Path Element
T1574.001DLL Search Order Hijacking

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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