What’s privilege escalation?

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Privilege escalation is a computer exploit that allows one user to gain access to privileges extended to another user, potentially creating a vulnerability where a hacker could reconfigure a system and perform illegal operations. There are three levels: deescalation, where a user effectively has fewer privileges; horizontal escalation; and vertical escalation. These work in different ways. Horizontal and vertical escalation tend to be of the greatest concern.

In vertical privilege escalation, a user has administrative access to a computer when that shouldn’t be possible. Such access can allow users to change system settings, create new users, authorize tasks, and engage in a wide variety of other mischief. This can be a potentially serious security flaw on a network, where a user with administrative privileges could extract data from network users’ computers or create loopholes to be exploited later.

Horizontal cases of privilege escalation involve situations where people have access controls under a different user’s account. For example, in an office, user A might log into user B’s account. Both accounts can have the same number of system privileges in terms of being able to make changes and perform operations. They contain different information, however, and User A could be doing things like deleting or moving files, accessing confidential information, or placing orders under User B’s name. This can be a big problem in something like an online banking system, in which a transfer of funds would appear to be legitimate because it originated from a user’s account.

Administrators can use deescalation to the privileges of a normal system user. In some cases, this can be a security measure. The administrator may choose to downgrade to a lower-level account to perform basic tasks, rather than logging in as an administrator, which could create a security threat. Accidentally leaving an administrator account open could allow an unauthorized person to use that account, for example, or it could create a window for a hacker or cracker to use.

There are a number of steps that technicians can use to troubleshoot privilege escalation issues. Programmers thoroughly test operating systems and programs before use to check for this and other potential exploits. Users who notice problems should report them, as they can help designers and information technology professionals identify and correct security problems. There may also be some changes to the security settings to limit privilege escalation attacks and keep the system secure.

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