dbcve.org
CWE-648Weakness · CWE-648

CVE-2026-54424

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
89/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click 7 weeks old

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
An Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs vulnerability in Unity Parsec on Windows hosts leads to a potential Elevation of Privilege. This issue affects Parsec through v2026-05-04.0. The patched version is Parsec for Windows version 150-104a. A user can generate a situation where there is an instance of parsecd.exe running as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM with a user-controlled value of the AppData environment variable.

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 · moderate confidence

Unity Parsec contains an Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs vulnerability where a local Windows user can cause parsecd.exe to execute as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM with a user-controlled AppData environment variable. This allows a standard user to elevate privileges by manipulating the environment variable and potentially intercepting or injecting code into the privileged process.

MitigationUpgrade Parsec for Windows to version 150-104a or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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. Verify Parsec is installed on the system
    Check for the presence of parsecd.exe in typical installation locations such as C:\Program Files\Parsec\ or look for Parsec in the Windows Services list (services.msc) where the service name is typically 'Parsec' or 'parsecd'
    Affected if Parsec is installed and the parsecd service exists
  2. Identify the installed Parsec version
    Right-click parsecd.exe in the installation directory, select Properties, then view the Details tab for the File Version, or run 'wmic product where "name like '%Parsec%'" get version' if installed via installer
    Affected if The version number is lower than 150-104a (the fixed version)
  3. Confirm parsecd.exe runs with elevated privileges
    Open Services (services.msc), locate the Parsec service, right-click and select Properties, then check the 'Log On' account - if it shows 'Local System' or 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM', the service runs with elevated privileges
    Affected if The service Log On account is set to Local System or NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
  4. Check for user-controlled AppData environment variable
    Open System Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables, or run 'reg query "HKCU\Environment"' in Command Prompt, and look for any AppData or related variables that a standard user can modify
    Affected if A user-modifiable AppData or related environment variable exists in the current user environment that could influence the privileged parsecd.exe process

If Parsec is installed with a version lower than 150-104a, the parsecd service runs as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, and a user can manipulate an AppData environment variable, then the environment is affected by this privilege escalation vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Parsec for Windows to version 150-104a or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Parsec for Windows version 150-104a

  1. 1. Identify all Windows hosts running Parsec by checking for parsecd.exe process or installed Parsec version
  2. 2. Navigate to the official Parsec download page at parsec.app or their support portal
  3. 3. Download Parsec for Windows version 150-104a (the patched version)
  4. 4. Uninstall the current vulnerable Parsec version from affected hosts
  5. 5. Install the patched version 150-104a on all affected Windows hosts
  6. 6. Verify the installation was successful by checking that the Parsec version shows 150-104a
  7. 7. Confirm that parsecd.exe no longer runs with NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM privileges using Task Manager or Process Explorer

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-54424 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2026-54424 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data