Claude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows
CVE-2026-35603
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.
No Active Exploit Signals
CVSS Base Score
5.4
MEDIUM
EPSS Probability:0.11%
Executive Threat Verdict
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Evaluating Threat Landscape...
Assessing known weaponization, exploitation telemetry, and federal advisories.
Attack Surface
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Authentication
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Weaponization
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SSVC Action
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CISA BINDING OPERATIONAL DIRECTIVE (BOD 22-01)Mandatory Federal Remediation
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