CVE-2026-35603 [Medium] | Privilege Escalation in Claude Code

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. In versions prior to 2.1.75 on Windows, Claude Code loaded the system-wide default configuration from C:\ProgramData\ClaudeCode\managed-settings.json without validating directory ownership or access permissions. Because the ProgramData directory is writable by non-administrative users by default and the ClaudeCode subdirectory was not pre-created or access-restricted, a low-privileged local user could create this directory and place a malicious configuration file that would be automatically loaded for any user launching Claude Code on the same machine. Exploiting this would have required a shared multi-user Windows system and a victim user to launch Claude Code after the malicious configuration was placed. This issue has been fixed on version 2.1.75.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.01%	0.11%	+0.10%
2	2026-04-18	—	0.01%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.01%

0.11%

+0.10%

2026-04-18

—

0.01%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.4	4.0	MEDIUM	`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) Attacker needs local access on the target system. Attack complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable. Attack requirements (AT:P) Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation. Privileges required (PR:L) Low privileges are required. User interaction (UI:P) A user has to participate (for example click/open/approve). Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:H) High confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system. Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:H) High integrity impact on the vulnerable system. Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:H) High availability impact on the vulnerable system. Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N) No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems. Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N) No integrity impact on subsequent systems. Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N) No availability impact on subsequent systems. Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X) Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked). Confidentiality requirement (CR:X) Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case). Integrity requirement (IR:X) Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case). Availability requirement (AR:X) Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case). Modified attack vector (MAV:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV). Modified attack complexity (MAC:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC). Modified attack requirements (MAT:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT). Modified privileges required (MPR:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR). Modified user interaction (MUI:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI). Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric. Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric. Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric. Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric. Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric. Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X) Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric. Safety (supplemental) (S:X) Not evaluated. Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X) Not evaluated. Recovery (supplemental) (R:X) Not evaluated. Value density (supplemental) (V:X) Not evaluated. Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X) Not evaluated. Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X) Not evaluated.	—	—	[email protected]
7.3	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.3	5.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.4

4.0

MEDIUM

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): Attacker needs local access on the target system.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:P): Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:L): Low privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:P): A user has to participate (for example click/open/approve).
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:H): High confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:H): High integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:H): High availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N): No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N): No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N): No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X): Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X): Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X): Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X): Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X): Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X): Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X): Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X): Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X): Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X): Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X): Not evaluated.

—

[email protected]

7.3

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.3

5.9

[email protected]

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-35603

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
anthropic	claude_code	< 2.1.75	cpe:2.3:a:anthropic:claude_code::::::node.js::*

References for CVE-2026-35603

URL	Tags
https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx	Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2026-35603 | Claude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-35603

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-35603

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-35603

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-35603

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-35603

References for CVE-2026-35603