November 13, 2026 Follow Egret
CVE-2026-35603 · CVE record: PUBLISHED

Claude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows

anthropics 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.

Exploitation evidence

Not listed in the latest downloaded CISA KEV catalog. This does not establish an absence of exploitation.

KEV checked 13 Nov 2026, 00:20 Jerusalem · Original catalog ↗

Reported products and versions

anthropics / claude-code

Default status: Not specified

  • affected: < 2.1.75

Fixes and workarounds

No explicit solution text in the downloaded CVE record. Consult the vendor advisory; unaffected version ranges are shown above as reported, not inferred as a patch recommendation.

Sources and related reporting

CVE Program record ↗ · Download tracked evidence as JSON

Monitored source mentions

Shared CVE identifiers link source mentions; they do not establish that the reports describe the same incident.

Observed change timeline

History begins when Egret first downloads each source. It is not the complete upstream CVE history.

12 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-12",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01177
}
10 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-10",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01177
}
09 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-09",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01174
}
08 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-08",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01175
}
07 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-07",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01177
}
06 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-06",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01178
}
06 Nov 2026, 06:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-05",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01177
}
04 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-04",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01179
}
03 Nov 2026, 18:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-03",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.01171
}
03 Nov 2026, 06:20 Jerusalem · EPSS observation updated

Stored EPSS snapshot at this observation.

{
  "date": "2026-11-02",
  "epss": 0.00108,
  "percentile": 0.0116
}
03 Nov 2026, 06:20 Jerusalem · CVE Program record changed

Stored CNA snapshot at this observation.

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-35603",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "total"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-04-20T14:52:20.978519Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-04-20T14:57:47.669Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "claude-code",
          "vendor": "anthropics",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "< 2.1.75"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "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."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV4_0": {
            "attackComplexity": "LOW",
            "attackRequirements": "PRESENT",
            "attackVector": "LOCAL",
            "baseScore": 5.4,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
            "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
            "userInteraction": "PASSIVE",
            "vectorString": "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",
            "version": "4.0",
            "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "HIGH",
            "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "vulnIntegrityImpact": "HIGH"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-426",
              "description": "CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-04-17T20:38:49.901Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "Claude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-35603",
    "datePublished": "2026-04-17T20:38:49.901Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-04-03T21:25:12.162Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-04-20T14:57:47.669Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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