BlueHammer is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Defender caused by insufficient granularity of access control. Microsoft describes the issue as allowing an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. Public reporting further characterizes the flaw as enabling privileged file read access that can be leveraged to access sensitive local security data, including the Security Account Manager database, and ultimately obtain SYSTEM-level privileges on affected Windows systems. The vulnerability was publicly disclosed before patch availability and was later fixed by Microsoft in April 2026.
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What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
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1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos (5 hidden).
Small Windows-focused exploit repository for CVE-2026-33825 containing a single substantive source file, src/main.cpp, built with CMake. The code is a local privilege-escalation style PoC rather than a remote exploit. It uses low-level Windows and NT native APIs from ntdll.dll, plus Cloud Files API headers/libraries, to manipulate filesystem objects, enumerate object-manager directories, and set reparse points/mount points. The exploit workflow appears to prepare filesystem redirection primitives, race or coerce privileged file operations, then open \??\C:\Windows\System32\TieringEngineService.exe with FILE_SUPERSEDE semantics. After successful overwrite/placement, it copies its own executable into %WINDIR%\System32\TieringEngineService.exe and invokes LaunchTierManagementEng() to trigger execution. Repository structure is minimal: CMakeLists.txt for building, a short README naming CVE-2026-33825, and one large C++ implementation file. No network communication, C2, or external URLs are present; the exploit is entirely local and centered on Windows filesystem/object-manager abuse and privileged binary planting.
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Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
202 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A high-severity Microsoft Defender privilege escalation vulnerability, dubbed BlueHammer, that can be used to access the SAM database and local account password hashes.
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Defender, referred to as BlueHammer, that CISA says is being actively exploited in ransomware attacks.
Локальная уязвимость повышения привилегий в Windows, сочетающая TOCTOU и path confusion; успешная эксплуатация дает доступ к базе SAM и повышение привилегий до SYSTEM.
A Windows privilege escalation vulnerability mentioned as part of a broader series of recently disclosed Windows zero-day vulnerabilities.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.