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CVE-2026-44470

Claude Desktop: Local Privilege Escalation via Directory Junction in CoworkVMService

Published: May 13, 2026Updated: Jun 2, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVDCWE-59
NVD MITRE
7.8CVSSHIGH
EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 94.9%
CISA KEV
Not in KEV
Exploits
No Known Exploits
Remediation
Patch Available

Description

The Claude Desktop app gives you Claude Code with a graphical interface built for running multiple sessions side by side. Prior to 1.3834.0, the CoworkVMService component in Claude Desktop for Windows ran as SYSTEM and did not validate whether the VM bundle directory was a real directory or an NTFS directory junction before creating files within it. A local non-elevated user could replace the user-writable VM bundle directory with a directory junction pointing to an attacker-chosen location, causing the service to create a SYSTEM-owned file in an arbitrary directory. This could be leveraged for local privilege escalation. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.3834.0.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:LAC:LPR:LUI:NS:UC:HI:HA:H
Exploitability
AV:LAttack Vector
Local
AC:LAttack Complexity
Low
PR:LPrivileges Required
Low
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:UScope
Unchanged
Impact
C:HConfidentiality
High
I:HIntegrity
High
A:HAvailability
High
Open in CVSS calculator →

Weaknesses

CWE-59CWE-269

Affected Products

claude-codeanthropics
SaaS
AI / ML / llm-serving-inference
claude desktopanthropic
SaaS
AI / ML / llm-serving-inference
anthropicscommercialUSAI / MLaka claude-code, anthropic-sdk-python, anthropic-sdk-typescript
anthropiccommercialUSAI / MLaka claude

Attack Graph

Products CVE Techniques Tactics

Click technique nodes to view MITRE ATT&CK details. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan.

Exploitability

Official Patch Available

MITRE ATT&CK

3 techniques
Collection
Discovery
Privilege Escalation
View detailed technique mapping

References

https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-5p5x-5294-qhp3
github.com

Timeline

Published
May 13, 2026
Last Updated
Jun 2, 2026

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