CVE-2026-14551 Local Privilege Escalation in servereye client (sensorhub)
A local attacker can escalate privileges to SYSTEM by exploiting insecure directory permissions and unvalidated file copy operations in the servereye client service.
- 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-2026-14551?
CVE-2026-14551 is a high-severity vulnerability in servereye Windows Agent (Sensorhub), published on 22 Jul 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The servereye client (also known as sensorhub, technically ClientAgentContainerService) versions 20.15 and earlier are vulnerable to Local Privilege Escalation. The high-privileged service SE3Recovery (EmergencyRecoveryService.exe), running as SYSTEM, periodically monitors the directory %ProgramData%\ServerEye3\update\ for a trigger file named "update_available". Due to insufficient access restrictions on this directory, a local standard user can create the trigger file and provide a path to a directory containing malicious JSON instructions. The service subsequently executes the utility UpdaterAction.exe with SYSTEM privileges, which parses the instructions and performs an unvalidated file copy from a user-controlled source to a protected system destination (e.g., overwriting a service binary). This leads to full system compromise as the service automatically restarts the overwritten binary with SYSTEM privileges.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-14551?
How do I fix CVE-2026-14551?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-14551 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-14551 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-14551 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-fc5x-r66h-vp5f.