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.
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References
History
Wed, 13 May 2026 16:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | |
| Title | Claude Desktop: Local Privilege Escalation via Directory Junction in CoworkVMService | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-269 CWE-59 |
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cvssV4_0
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: GitHub_M
Published:
Updated: 2026-05-13T15:41:48.424Z
Reserved: 2026-05-06T17:18:51.782Z
Link: CVE-2026-44470
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Status : Awaiting Analysis
Published: 2026-05-13T16:16:58.263
Modified: 2026-05-13T16:58:40.557
Link: CVE-2026-44470
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OpenCVE Enrichment
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