Local Privilege Escalation

Definitions

1. A technique or vulnerability that lets someone with limited access on a system gain higher privileges such as administrator, root, or SYSTEM. Local privilege escalation is a common second step after phishing, malware execution, or stolen low-level credentials.

   In plain English: Raising privileges on a machine after already gaining limited access.

   Example: "The ransomware operator used a local privilege escalation bug to disable defenses before encrypting files."

Related Terms

• Encoded Payload
• Exploit Development
• Exploit Kit
• Firmware Exploitation
• Memory Corruption
• Metasploit
• Application Control
• Application Whitelisting
• Client-Side Attack
• Local Exploit