MediumVulnerabilityLLM-specific
GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx: Claude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows
- Identifiers
- CVE-2026-35603GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx
- Published
- Record updated
- Affected
- @anthropic-ai/claude-code < 2.1.75
- Fixed in
- 2.1.75
- Known exploitation
- Not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog at the last check.
- EPSS
- 0.2%
Summary
Claude Code on Windows loaded system-wide defaults from C:\ProgramData\ClaudeCode\managed-settings.json without checking directory ownership or permissions. A low-privileged local user could create that directory and place a malicious configuration file, which would load for any user launching Claude Code on the same machine. Exploitation requires a shared multi-user Windows system and a victim who launches Claude Code after the file is placed.
Mitigation
Users on standard Claude Code auto-update have already received the fix. Users performing manual updates are advised to update to the latest version.