CVE-2026-78604Hinoki check available

SYSTEM privilege escalation via overly permissive service resources

Published Sep 2, 2026 · Updated Sep 3, 2026

Privilege escalation in affected Elastic Agent releases allows local users to execute chosen code with SYSTEM privileges on Windows. The agent service creates resources with access controls broad enough for a low-privileged account to replace binaries that the service later executes. Exploitation requires an unprivileged-mode installation; default privileged installations and all Linux and macOS deployments are unaffected.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.10%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in affected Elastic Agent releases allows local users to execute chosen code with SYSTEM privileges on Windows. The agent service creates resources with access controls broad enough for a low-privileged account to replace binaries that the service later executes. Exploitation requires an unprivileged-mode installation; default privileged installations and all Linux and macOS deployments are unaffected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-78604
Published
Sep 2, 2026
Updated
Sep 3, 2026
Vendor
Elastic
Product
Elastic Agent
Classifications
CWE-732, CAPEC-642, T1574.010
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 2, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 3, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=8.0.0 <=8.19.20
  2. Affected versionversion=9.0.0 <=9.4.5
  3. Affected versionversion=9.5.0 <=9.5.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Elastic · Elastic Agentversion=8.0.0 <=8.19.20; version=9.0.0 <=9.4.5; version=9.5.0 <=9.5.1

Published CVSS scores

7.8ElasticCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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-732Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
CAPEC-642Replace Binaries
T1574.010Services File Permissions Weakness

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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