Nssm-2.24 Privilege Escalation -

This attack requires no user interaction, only low-level local access. It transforms a standard user account into a de-facto administrator, enabling lateral movement, ransomware deployment, or the extraction of sensitive data. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function , as the process does not verify the identity or permissions of the process replacing the critical binary. In Phoenix Contact’s DaUM (Device and Update Management) implementation, for instance, low-privileged users could replace the executable to gain full administrative control over the industrial management tool.

: Exploiting the weak permissions, the attacker overwrites the legitimate nssm.exe binary with a malicious executable of their choosing. This is the critical step—the permissions flaw allows file modification without requiring administrative privileges. nssm-2.24 privilege escalation

: Many applications bundle nssm.exe but fail to secure its directory. For example, if a "Users" group has full control (the 'F' flag) over the binary or its parent folder, an attacker can replace nssm.exe with a malicious rootkit. When the service restarts, it executes the replacement with elevated privileges. This attack requires no user interaction, only low-level