Privilege escalation is a critical phase in the cyber-attack lifecycle where an adversary seeks to expand their influence within a target environment after gaining an initial foothold. In standard security architectures, users are granted the "least privilege" necessary to perform their duties; however, attackers aim to bypass these restrictions to access sensitive data or execute restricted commands. This process is categorized into two distinct dimensions: horizontal and vertical escalation.
Horizontal privilege escalation(also known as lateral movement) occurs when an attacker gains access to resources belonging to another user with a similar level of permissions. This is often achieved through credential theft, session hijacking, or exploiting vulnerabilities in peer-level applications. While the attacker's authorization level remains the same, their reach increases as they assume different identities.
Vertical privilege escalation, or privilege elevation, is the process of moving from a standard user account to one with higher administrative or "root" privileges. This typically involves exploiting system bugs, misconfigurations, or unpatched vulnerabilities in the kernel or operating system. For instance, an attacker might use an exploit to trick a high-privileged service into executing malicious code on their behalf. Gaining root or administrator status is often the ultimate goal for an attacker, as it provides unrestricted control over the entire system, allowing for the deployment of malware, modification of security logs, and total data exfiltration. Effective defense against this threat involves implementing zero-trust architectures, rigorous patch management, and continuous monitoring for unauthorized permission changes.
