GLOSSARY  /  Privilege Escalation

What is Privilege Escalation?

Gaining higher permissions than originally granted — e.g., from a normal user to admin/root.

Vertical escalation raises privilege level; horizontal escalation accesses other users’ resources at the same level. It exploits misconfigurations, vulnerable services, or weak permissions (CWE-269).

It is a key step toward full system compromise.

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Part of the Ciphers Security glossary. Free reference for analysts, defenders & learners.