{"id":78579,"date":"2023-03-29T06:01:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T06:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/?p=78579"},"modified":"2025-12-15T10:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:18:09","slug":"privilege-escalations-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/penetration-testing\/privilege-escalations-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Privilege Escalation? Understanding Its Types, Attacks, and Mitigating Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What is Privilege Escalation?<\/h2>

Privilege escalation<\/strong> is a cyberattack technique where an attacker gains unauthorized access to higher privileges by leveraging security flaws, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities in an organization’s system. It is the attempt to elevate access permissions by exploiting bugs, system flaws, human behaviors, configuration oversights, or weak access controls. In most cases, the first penetration attack<\/a> attempt is not enough to gain the required level of access to data. Attackers then resort to privilege escalations<\/strong> to gain deeper access to networks, assets, and sensitive information.<\/p>

Privilege escalation attacks<\/strong> are performed to jeopardize business operations by exfiltrating data and creating backdoors. The goal of privilege escalations<\/strong> is to gain complete control over the system or network, with a malicious intent of security breaches, data theft, etc. Threat actors performing these attacks can be external hackers or insiders who start by carrying out a social engineering attack<\/a> like phishing to gain access to computer networks and systems through credential theft.<\/p>

As privilege escalation attacks<\/strong> can impact business reputation and continuity, strategic measures should be implemented for prevention, early detection, and mitigation.<\/p>

Types of Privilege Escalations<\/h2>

There are two types of privilege escalations are mentioned below.<\/p>

  1. Vertical privilege escalation<\/span><\/li>
  2. Horizontal privilege Escalation<\/li><\/ol>

    Vertical privilege escalation<\/span>, or privilege elevation attack, is hacking into a system to gain elevated privilege access beyond what the attacker already has.<\/p>

    Horizontal privilege escalation<\/span>\u00a0or account takeover is gaining access to the rights of lower-level accounts with similar privileges, mainly performed to increase the attacker’s sphere of access.<\/p>

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    Vertical vs. Horizontal Privilege Escalation<\/h2>

    Often confused, vertical and horizontal privilege escalations<\/strong> refer to different methods of obtaining higher privileges within a system or a network. Horizontal privilege escalation means obtaining access to the same level of privileges as a user. In contrast, vertical privilege escalation refers to obtaining a higher level of privileges than the user.<\/p>

    In case of a horizontal privilege escalation<\/strong>, a low-level employee with access to sensitive data may use that access to gain the same privileges as a higher-level employee, such as a manager. This enables the attacker to perform actions with the same level of authority as the compromised employee.<\/p>

    On the other hand, vertical privilege escalation<\/strong> refers to the process of gaining higher privileges than the user currently has. For example, a low-level employee may exploit a vulnerability in the system to gain administrative privileges, thus obtaining the ability to perform actions with a much higher level of authority.<\/p>

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    Common Types of Privilege Escalation Techniques or Methods<\/h2>

    There are various types of privilege escalation techniques that attackers can use to compromise a system. Some of them are discussed below.<\/p>

    1. Social engineering- <\/strong>
      In this technique, an attacker tricks a user into giving away their credentials or performing actions that grant the attacker elevated privileges. This can include       phishing attacks<\/a>, where an attacker sends an email posing as a trusted entity to trick the recipient into giving away their credentials, thereby giving the attacker access to the system.<\/li>
    2. Pass-the-Hash\/Rainbow table attacks- <\/strong>Another technique is the pass-the-hash (PtH) attack, which aims at impersonating a user by using a stolen password hash to create a new session on the same network. To defend against this attack, modern systems must employ robust password management solutions to keep the hash unique between two sessions.<\/li>
    3. Vulnerabilities and exploits- <\/strong>Exploiting vulnerabilities in software and operating systems is another popular method of privilege escalation. Here, attackers exploit unpatched software vulnerabilities, buffer overflow issues<\/a>, or other backdoors to gain privilege escalation.<\/li>
    4. Misconfigurations- <\/strong>In this attack, the attacker takes advantage of misconfigured systems to escalate their privileges. This can include weak passwords, unsecured network services, open ports, authentic failures, and other misconfigured systems.<\/li>
    5. Kernal exploits- <\/strong>In this technique, the attacker exploits zero-day vulnerabilities in the operating system kernel to escalate their privileges. This poses a serious threat as the kernel gets complete control over the system and can bypass security measures.<\/li><\/ol>

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      Best Practices to Prevent Privilege Escalation Attacks<\/h2>

      Privilege escalation attacks can have severe consequences, including theft of sensitive information, disruption of operations, and reputational damage. By implementing strong passwords, restricting access, regularly updating systems, monitoring activity, and having a clear response plan, organizations can reduce their risk of falling victim to privilege escalation attacks. Below are some best practices that must be adopted to prevent and mitigate such attacks:<\/p>