Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2026-29923

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The pstrip64.sys driver in EnTech Taiwan PowerStrip <=3.90.736 allows local users to escalate privileges to SYSTEM via a crafted IOCTL request enabling unprivileged users to map arbitrary physical memory into their address space and modify critical kernel structures.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The pstrip64.sys driver in EnTech Taiwan PowerStrip version 3.90.736 and below contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where a crafted IOCTL request allows unprivileged local users to map arbitrary physical memory into their address space and modify kernel structures, achieving SYSTEM-level privileges.

MitigationRemove or uninstall PowerStrip if possible; if required, run the application with restricted privileges and consider implementing kernel patch protection or AppLocker policies to block untrusted driver loading.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if PowerStrip is installed
    Look for PowerStrip installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\PowerStrip or C:\Program Files (x86)\PowerStrip), check Add/Remove Programs in registry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall), or look for pstrip64.sys driver file in System32\drivers
    Affected if PowerStrip is found installed on the system
  2. Determine PowerStrip version
    Open the installed PowerStrip directory and locate version information in the executable properties (right-click powerstrip.exe > Properties > Details), or check the driver file version property of pstrip64.sys
    Affected if Version is 3.90.736 or lower
  3. Verify pstrip64.sys driver presence
    Check for pstrip64.sys in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ directory. Right-click the file, go to Properties > Details to view file version
    Affected if The pstrip64.sys driver file exists on the system
  4. Check if driver is loaded
    Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run 'sc query pstrip64' or check Device Manager for hidden/non-plug-and-play drivers. Also check 'driverquery /v' output for pstrip64
    Affected if The pstrip64 driver is currently loaded in memory

A user is affected if PowerStrip version 3.90.736 or below is installed with the pstrip64.sys driver present, regardless of whether the driver is currently loaded.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Remove or uninstall PowerStrip if possible; if required, run the application with restricted privileges and consider implementing kernel patch protection or AppLocker policies to block untrusted driver loading.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-29923 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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