# CVE-2026-18485: Local Privilege Escalation in NI-PAL

> A local authenticated user can escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code via a vulnerability in the NI-PAL kernel driver on Windows.

- **Severity:** High 8.5 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mw2w-74q7-6fc4

## What is CVE-2026-18485?

CVE-2026-18485 is a high-severity vulnerability in NI-PAL, published on 5 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

There is a local privilege escalation vulnerability recently discovered in the NI-PAL kernel driver.  This may allow a local, authenticated user to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code.  This vulnerability affects NI-PAL 26.3.1 and prior versions running on Microsoft Windows.

Weakness: CWE-1285 (Improper Validation of Specified Index, Position, or Offset in Input)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-18485?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-18485?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-18485 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-18485 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-18485 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-18485 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-18485 is a high-severity vulnerability in NI-PAL, published on 5 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-18485 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: NI-PAL. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-18485/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-18485/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-18485
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-18485
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-18485

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-18485/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.