# CVE-2026-78604: Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource in Elastic Agent Leading to Local Privilege Escalation to SYSTEM

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM on Windows hosts by exploiting incorrect permissions in Elastic Agent installed in unprivileged mode.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 3 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-49f3-27rf-qcff, MINI-j8hr-8m6h-8jg6, MINI-m44x-4w4v-wrxw, MINI-m72v-5p4m-xjrh

## What is CVE-2026-78604?

CVE-2026-78604 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic Agent, published on 2 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource (CWE-732) in Elastic Agent can lead to local privilege escalation via Replace Binaries (CAPEC-642). On Windows systems where Elastic Agent is installed in unprivileged mode, resources used by the agent service are created with access controls broader than required. A local user could take advantage of this to cause the service to execute code of their choosing, ultimately obtaining SYSTEM-level privileges on the host.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-78604?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elastic Elastic Agent.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-78604?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-78604 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-78604 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic Agent

- [CVE-2023-6687](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-6687/): Elastic Agent Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2024-37283](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-37283/): Elastic Agent Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-46669](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46669/): Elastic Agent / Elastic Endpoint Security local API key disclosure (medium 6.2)
- [CVE-2024-52976](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-52976/): Elastic Agent Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere (medium 4.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-78604 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-78604 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic Agent, published on 2 Sep 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-2026-78604 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Elastic Agent. 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-2026-78604/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78604/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-78604
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-78604
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-78604

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78604/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.