CVE-2026-35603
highpriority · track · 39EPSS 0.001 · 1 %ileexploit · PoCEUUSEPSS · scored 2026-10-27
Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. In versions prior to 2.1.75 on Windows, Claude Code loaded the system-wide default configuration from C:\ProgramData\ClaudeCode\managed-settings.json without validating directory ownership or access permissions. Because the ProgramData directory is writable by non-administrative users by default and the ClaudeCode subdirectory was not pre-created or access-restricted, a low-privileged local user could create this directory and place a malicious configuration file that would be automatically loaded for any user launching Claude Code on the same machine. Exploiting this would have required a shared multi-user Windows system and a victim user to launch Claude Code after the malicious configuration was placed. This issue has been fixed on version 2.1.75.
cvss
Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.
base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · medium–high · 4.5–7.3
ssvc
A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.
weaknesses
The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.
exploits (1)
Public proof-of-concept and weaponised exploit code.
affected products (3)
Products and version ranges known to be affected.
advisories (1)
Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.
- GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvxClaude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows2026-04-17ghsa · osvUS
On Windows, Claude Code loaded system-wide default configuration from `C:\ProgramData\ClaudeCode\managed-settings.json` without validating directory ownership or access permissions. Because the `ProgramData` directory is writable by non-administrative users by default and the `ClaudeCode` subdirectory was not pre-created or access-restricted, a low-privileged local user could create this directory and place a malicious configuration file that would be automatically loaded for any user launching Claude Code on the same machine. Exploiting this would have required a shared multi-user Windows system and a victim user to launch Claude Code after the malicious configuration was placed. Users on standard Claude Code auto-update have received this fix already. Users performing manual updates are advised to update to the latest version. Thank you to hackerone.com/edbr for reporting this issue.
also known as (3)
Other names and identifiers for this entity.
sources
Which sources assert this record, and when.
references (5)
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2026-35603cnnvd
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35603cnnvd
- https://www.anthropic.com/Patchcnnvd
- https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvxenisa_euvd
- https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvxVendor Advisorynvd
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