Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource in Elastic Agent Leading to Local Privilege Escalation to SYSTEM
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
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.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elastic | Elastic Agent | 8.0.0 – 8.19.20; 9.0.0 – 9.4.5; 9.5.0 – 9.5.1 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- Elastic Agent VendorElastic Affected 8.0.0 – 8.19.20; 9.0.0 – 9.4.5; 9.5.0 – 9.5.1 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:elastic:elastic_agent:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 8.0.0 to before 8.19.21; 9.0.0 to before 9.4.6; 9.5.0 to before 9.5.2 | Vulnerable | Elastic |
- cpe:2.3:a:elastic:elastic_agent:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 8.0.0 to before 8.19.21; 9.0.0 to before 9.4.6; 9.5.0 to before 9.5.2 Vulnerable ·Elastic
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-78604
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-49f3-27rf-qcff
References
More Elastic Agent vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-35456 Elastic Agent Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8
- TI-2023-15038 Beats, Elastic Agent, APM Server, and Fleet Server Improper Certificate Validation issue CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-25171 Elastic Agent / Elastic Endpoint Security local API key disclosure CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.1
- TI-2023-06115 Elastic Agent Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.8
- TI-2024-24798 Elastic Agent Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-78604 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-78604 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-49f3-27rf-qcff · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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