
“SignDrop” exploit lets local users gain all-powerful System rights.
Nightmare Eclipse, the pseudonym of a researcher with an ongoing, very public beef with Microsoft, has dropped yet another Windows zero-day.
On Tuesday, Nightmare Eclipse disclosed SignDrop, a vulnerability that gives local users full System rights on some versions of Windows. The vulnerability resides in the Common Log File System, which Microsoft describes as a βgeneral-purpose logging service used by software clients running in user-mode or kernel-mode.β By forcing a privileged process such as Windows Defender to open a crafted CLFS container, an attacker with ordinary user rights can abuse the privileged file creation to elevate privileges to System.
Turning a Windows defense against itself
The attack exploits the interaction of CLFS, Windows Defender, and Windows file permissions. The exploit uses Windows Defender to open a log file created by a standard user by calling ServerMpUpdateEngineSignature, a legitimate Defender function for processing antivirus signature updates.Read full article
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Source: Ars Technica
π Key Takeaways
- Wire dispatch directly ingested from Ars Technica.
- Published at Fri, 13 Nov 2026 16:26.
- Source URL: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/11/windows-0-day-dropped-by-disgruntled-researcher-hands-hackers-system-rights/