# CVE-2026-74801: SiYuan before 3.7.4 Local Privilege Escalation via elevator.exe

> Attackers can execute arbitrary commands with administrator privileges by exploiting path injection in the elevator helper process.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H`)
- **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:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-pmhp-gmf7-7vhj

## What is CVE-2026-74801?

CVE-2026-74801 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in siyuan-note siyuan, published on 17 Aug 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

SiYuan before 3.7.4 fails to properly escape workspace directory paths when constructing command-line arguments for the elevated elevator.exe helper process. Attackers can create a malicious workspace directory with command metacharacters in its path and trigger the Microsoft Defender exclusion flow to execute arbitrary commands with administrator privileges after UAC approval.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74801?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-74801?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-74801 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-74801 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-74801 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-74801 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-74801 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in siyuan-note siyuan, published on 17 Aug 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-2026-74801 exists.

Affected product: siyuan-note siyuan. 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-2026-74801/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74801/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-74801
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-74801
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-74801

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74801/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.