PhantomRPC: A new privilege escalation technique in Windows Remote Procedure Call


Windows Interprocess Communication (IPC) is one of the most complex technologies within the Windows operating system. At the core of this ecosystem is the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism, which can function as a standalone communication channel or as the underlying transport layer for more advanced interprocess communication technologies. Because of its complexity and widespread use, RPC has historically been a rich source of security issues.

Over the years, researchers have identified numerous vulnerabilities in services that rely on RPC, ranging from local privilege escalation to full remote code execution. In this research, Kaspersky presents a new vulnerability in the RPC architecture that enables a novel local privilege escalation technique likely in all Windows versions.

Read more…
Source: Kaspersky


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Copy Fail vulnerability allows attackers to gain root access on virtually any modern Linux distribution

    April 30, 2026

    A working exploit written in Python (later released in other programming languages as well) consists of about ten lines of code and uses standard system calls that are indistinguishable from normal system activity. Kaspersky explain what the CVE-2026-31431 vulnerability, unofficially named as Copy Fail and published on April 29, is. Kaspersky also have some advice on ...

  • Inside Shadow-Earth-053: A China-Aligned Cyberespionage Campaign Against Government and Defense Sectors in Asia

    April 30, 2026

    Through ongoing analysis of ShadowPad implants targeting South and Southeast Asia, TrendAI Research has uncovered a series of new related campaigns that are tracked under a temporary intrusion set (a provisional cluster of related activity pending formal attribution) designated SHADOW-EARTH-053, which we assess to be aligned with China’s broader strategic interests. Trend Micro telemetry indicates that ...

  • Hackers stole hundreds of thousands of Roblox accounts

    April 30, 2026

    More than 610,000 Roblox accounts were reportedly stolen. Was yours or your child’s among them? Ukrainian police arrested three individuals in Lviv who allegedly orchestrated one of the largest Roblox account theft operations to date. Between October 2025 and January 2026, the hacking group is said to have compromised over 610,000 Roblox accounts, including at least 357 ...

  • Nasty cPanel vulnerability probably exploited as a 0-day

    April 30, 2026

    Emergency patches are available for a critical vulnerability in cPanel and WHM that allows attackers to bypass authentication and gain root access to servers managed using it. Given that cPanel and WebHost Manager (WHM) control panel help manage properties for 70 million domains, by some estimates, and the critical severity of CVE-2026-41940 (9.8), the vulnerability is ...

  • CISA flags data-theft bug in NSA-built OT networking tool

    April 29, 2026

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning anyone who uses GrassMarlin, a tool developed by the National Security Agency (NSA), about a new vulnerability that attackers can use to snoop on sensitive information. First reported by Grady DeRosa, senior industrial pentester at Dragos, the weak spot affects all versions of GrassMarlin, a tool developed ...

  • Have I Been Pwned claims Pitney Bowes hit by 8.2M email address leak

    April 29, 2026

    Logistics technology company Pitney Bowes, which makes franking machines for US postage, is the latest scalp claimed by ShinyHunters and its ongoing spree of pay-or-leak attacks against major organizations. Data breach tracker Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) confirmed the breach on April 27, with 8.2 million unique email addresses included in the dump alongside names, phone ...