Local privilege escalation via HIMDS endpoint impersonation
Published Mar 10, 2026 · Updated Mar 10, 2026
Improper authentication in Azure Automation Windows Hybrid Worker before 1.3.74 allows local users to elevate privileges. During a narrow startup window, the extension connects to HIMDS before initialization without verifying that the endpoint is trusted and system-owned, allowing a local process to impersonate it and read protected metadata or configuration. Exploitation requires a local low-privileged process to win the startup race; no user interaction is required, and the exposed information supports the reported privilege-escalation impact.
Summary
What happened
Improper authentication in Azure Automation Windows Hybrid Worker before 1.3.74 allows local users to elevate privileges. During a narrow startup window, the extension connects to HIMDS before initialization without verifying that the endpoint is trusted and system-owned, allowing a local process to impersonate it and read protected metadata or configuration. Exploitation requires a local low-privileged process to win the startup race; no user interaction is required, and the exposed information supports the reported privilege-escalation impact.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-26141
- Published
- Mar 10, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 10, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Azure Automation Windows Hybrid Worker
- Classifications
- CWE-287, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 10, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 10, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1.0.0 <1.3.74
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo