Vulnerability in Anthropic Claude

CVE-2026-22561

Uncontrolled search path elements in Anthropic Claude for Windows installer (Claude Setup.exe) versions prior to 1.1.3363 allow local privilege escalation via DLL search-order hijacking. The installer loads DLLs (e.g., profapi.dll) from its own directory after UAC elevation, enabling arbitrary code execution if a malicious DLL is planted alongside the installer.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (6.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 7th percentile — 6.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-22561: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-22561?
CVE-2026-22561 is a high-severity vulnerability in Anthropic Claude, classified under Uncontrolled Search Path Element. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-03-31.
How severe is CVE-2026-22561?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.