# CVE-2026-44470: Claude Desktop: Local Privilege Escalation via Directory Junction in CoworkVMService

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM by exploiting a directory junction vulnerability in the CoworkVMService component of Claude Desktop.

- **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:** 13 May 2026
- **Updated:** 13 May 2026

## What is CVE-2026-44470?

CVE-2026-44470 is a high-severity vulnerability in anthropics claude-code, published on 13 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Claude Desktop app gives you Claude Code with a graphical interface built for running multiple sessions side by side. Prior to 1.3834.0, the CoworkVMService component in Claude Desktop for Windows ran as SYSTEM and did not validate whether the VM bundle directory was a real directory or an NTFS directory junction before creating files within it. A local non-elevated user could replace the user-writable VM bundle directory with a directory junction pointing to an attacker-chosen location, causing the service to create a SYSTEM-owned file in an arbitrary directory. This could be leveraged for local privilege escalation. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.3834.0.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access), CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44470?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Anthropic Claude Desktop.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-44470?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-44470 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-44470 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-44470 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in anthropics claude-code

- [CVE-2026-44467](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44467/): Claude Desktop: SSH Host Key Verification Bypass Allows Man-in-the-Middle Attack on Remote Sessions (high 7.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-44470 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-44470 is a high-severity vulnerability in anthropics claude-code, published on 13 May 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-2026-44470 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: anthropics claude-code. 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-2026-44470/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44470/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-44470
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44470
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-44470

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-44470/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.