CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment
A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
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Overview
CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment) is a base-level software weakness catalogued by MITRE in the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). It describes a recurring type of mistake that can lead to exploitable security vulnerabilities.
Real-world CVEs
734 recorded CVEs are caused by CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment), including 1 in CISA's KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities) catalog. KEVs are shown first. 311 new CWE-266 CVEs have been recorded so far in 2026 (217 in 2025).
- CVE-2026-48172CISA KEVCritical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 62th2026-05-21
- CVE-2026-39773
WordPress Doctreat Core plugin <= 1.7.0 - Privilege Escalation vulnerability
Critical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 20th2026-10-06 - CVE-2026-23800
WordPress Modular DS plugin <= 2.5.2 - Privilege Escalation vulnerability
Critical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 42th2026-01-16 - CVE-2026-23550
WordPress Modular DS plugin <= 2.5.1 - Privilege Escalation vulnerability
Critical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 98th2026-01-14 - CVE-2025-41115
Incorrect privilege assignment
Critical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 97th2025-11-21 - CVE-2024-9479Critical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 33th2024-11-20
- CVE-2024-9478Critical · CVSS 10.0 · EPSS 33th2024-11-20
- CVE-2026-42368
GeoVision LPC2011/LPC2211 Web Interface privilege escalation vulnerability
Critical · CVSS 9.9 · EPSS 48th2026-05-04 - CVE-2026-22907Critical · CVSS 9.9 · EPSS 36th2026-01-15
- CVE-2025-62645Critical · CVSS 9.9 · EPSS 52th2025-10-17
- CVE-2025-10725
Openshift-ai: overly permissive clusterrole allows authenticated users to escalate privileges to cluster admin
Critical · CVSS 9.9 · EPSS 52th2025-09-30 - CVE-2025-54049
WordPress Custom API for WP <= 4.2.2 - Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Critical · CVSS 9.9 · EPSS 34th2025-08-20
Showing 12 of 734 recorded CWE-266 CVEs. Get an alert for each new one, with AI-written analysis and fixes.
Monitor CWE-266 vulnerabilitiesCommon consequences
What can happen when CWE-266 is exploited.
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Affects: Access Control
A user can access restricted functionality and/or sensitive information that may include administrative functionality and user accounts.
How it happens
When it is introduced
Typically introduced during these phases of the software lifecycle.
How to prevent it
Practical mitigations for CWE-266, grouped by where in the lifecycle they apply.
Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks [REF-76]. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.
Code examples
MITRE examples of the weakness in code.
The following example demonstrates the weakness.
Vulnerable example
/* do some stuff */
seteuid(0);The following example demonstrates the weakness.
Vulnerable example
AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction() {This application sends a special intent with a flag that allows the receiving application to read a data file for backup purposes.
Vulnerable example
Intent intent = new Intent();Attack input
public class CallReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {Any malicious application can register to receive this intent. Because of the FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION included with the intent, the malicious receiver code can read the user's data.
Illustrative examples
Real CVEs that MITRE cites as examples of this weakness.
- CVE-1999-1193 — untrusted user placed in unix "wheel" group
- CVE-2005-2741 — Product allows users to grant themselves certain rights that can be used to escalate privileges.
- CVE-2005-2496 — Product uses group ID of a user instead of the group, causing it to run with different privileges. This is resultant from some other unknown issue.
- CVE-2004-0274 — Product mistakenly assigns a particular status to an entity, leading to increased privileges.
Terminology & mappings
Mapped taxonomies
- PLOVER: Incorrect Privilege Assignment
- The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011): Do not allow privileged blocks to leak sensitive information across a trust boundary (SEC00-J)
- The CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for Java (2011): Do not allow tainted variables in privileged blocks (SEC01-J)
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about CWE-266.
- What is CWE-266?
- A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.
- What CVEs are caused by CWE-266?
- 734 recorded CVEs are attributed to CWE-266, including CVE-2026-48172, CVE-2026-39773, CVE-2026-23800. 1 are listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
- How do you prevent CWE-266?
- Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
- What are the consequences of CWE-266?
- Exploiting CWE-266 can lead to: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity.
- Is CWE-266 actively exploited?
- Yes. 1 CWE-266 vulnerabilities are in CISA's KEV catalog of actively exploited flaws, out of 734 recorded CVEs.
References
- MITRE CWE definition (CWE-266) (opens in a new tab)
- CWE-266 vulnerabilities on NVD (opens in a new tab)
- Learn: What is a CWE?
Weakness data is sourced from the MITRE CWE catalog (v4.20). CVE associations are aggregated and kept current by RadicalNotion.AI.
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