CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2026-40952 — is a privilege misconfiguration in the Secure Access installer for the Windows client and server prior to version 14.55
High
CVSS 8.5
CVE-2026-40952 is a privilege misconfiguration in the Secure Access installer for the Windows client and server prior to version 14.55. Attackers with local access to the client or server can use it to elevate privileges to Administrator when Secure Access is installed in a non-default location.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.5 (4.0)
- Published
- 2026-07-15
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- windows/system
- Weaknesses
- CWE-276
Affected products
- absolute / secure_access
Matched remediation archetype
Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
- Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
- Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.
Remediate safely
- Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
- Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
- Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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