# CVE-2026-7006: Sublime Text 4192/3207 Local Privilege Escalation via Update Staging Mechanism

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by placing a malicious DLL in the update staging directory, which is then copied and executed by the elevated installer.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 1 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mc53-769g-2mv3

## What is CVE-2026-7006?

CVE-2026-7006 is a high-severity vulnerability in Sublime Text 3, published on 18 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Sublime Text for Windows through Build 4192 (Sublime Text 4) and Build 3207 (Sublime Text 3) contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows unprivileged local attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges by abusing the update staging mechanism. Attackers can place a malicious DLL in the user-writable staging directory under %LOCALAPPDATA%, mark it read-only to bypass cleanup, and have the elevated installer copy it into the protected installation directory, causing the DLL to execute in the context of any higher-privileged user who subsequently launches the application.

Weakness: CWE-494 (Download of Code Without Integrity Check)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-7006?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-7006?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-7006 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-7006 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-7006 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-7006 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-7006 is a high-severity vulnerability in Sublime Text 3, published on 18 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-7006 exists.

Affected product: Sublime Text 3. 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-2026-7006/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7006/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-7006
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-7006
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-7006

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7006/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.