Detections
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Anthropic Claude Code < 2.1.75 Local Privilege Escalation via Insecure Configuration Loading (CVE-2026-35603)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 316500

Synopsis

An application installed on the remote host is affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability.

Description

The version of Anthropic Claude Code installed on the remote Windows host is prior to 2.1.75. It is, therefore, affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability.

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. (CVE-2026-35603)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade Anthropic Claude Code to version 2.1.75 or later.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?39320929

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 316500

File Name: anthropic_claude_code_CVE-2026-35603.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: windows

Published: 5/22/2026

Updated: 5/22/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-35603

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.4

Threat Score: 2

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:anthropic:claude_code

Required KB Items: installed_sw/Anthropic Claude Code

Patch Publication Date: 4/17/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/17/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-35603

IAVA: 2026-A-0375