CVE-2026-14208 Local Privilege Escalation via Insecure DLL Permissions in Remote Utilities Host <=7.7.3.0
Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM by replacing DLLs in the installation directory during service restarts due to insecure file permissions.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-14208?
CVE-2026-14208 is a high-severity vulnerability in Remote Utilities Host, published on 21 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Remote Utilities Host <=7.7.3.0 sets insecure ACLs on all DLL files in the installation directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Remote Utilities - Host\), granting FULL CONTROL (F) to the built-in Everyone group (BUILTIN\Everyone, S-1-1-0). A Windows service running as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM loads DLLs from this directory. The DLLs are file-locked at runtime, but a race window exists when the service is stopped (e.g. during a software update or following a crash), during which a local unprivileged attacker can replace a DLL with a malicious payload. Upon service restart, the payload executes as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. The DLL confirmed as actively loaded during testing is libasset32.dll. Additional DLLs in the same directory (eventmsg.dll, libcodec32.dll, vp8encoder.dll, vp8decoder.dll, webmvorbisdecoder.dll, webmvorbisencoder.dll, webmmux.dll) share identical insecure permissions.
Weakness: CWE-732
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-14208?
How do I fix CVE-2026-14208?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-14208 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-14208 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-14208 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-2v74-j8j5-fw75.