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Home/CWEs/CWE-270
Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-270: Privilege Context Switching Error

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The product does not properly manage privileges while it is switching between different contexts that have different privileges or spheres of control.

Abstraction
Base
Related CVEs
0

▪References & documentation

https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/270.htmlNVD CWE listing

▪ How attackers exploit CWE-270

MITRE ATT&CK techniques associated with this weakness class (mapped via MITRE CAPEC). A vulnerability of this type could let an adversary carry out:

T1001Data Obfuscationcommand-and-controlT1027Obfuscated Files or InformationstealthT1055Process Injectionstealth · privilege-escalationT1218System Binary Proxy ExecutionstealthT1221Template InjectionstealthT1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

Step-by-step: how CWE-270 gets exploited

A stage-by-stage walkthrough of the attack, mapped to the real MITRE ATT&CK tactics for this weakness — what the attacker is trying to do, what's at risk (what can be stolen or damaged), and how you defend. Understanding the playbook is how you shut it down.

  1. 1
    Executionexecution

    Run attacker-chosen code or commands on the system.

    At risk / what's stolen

    Application logic and the host runtime — an attacker can execute arbitrary code or commands.

▪ Related CVEs

No CVEs in the Gold index currently reference CWE-270. New matches appear here as the crawler indexes them.
privilege-escalation
T1564Hide Artifactsstealth
T1574Hijack Execution Flowstealth · execution
How you defend

Least-privilege runtime, sandboxing, and safe deserialization/parsing.

  • 2
    Privilege escalationprivilege-escalation

    Gain higher privileges — from a limited account to admin/root.

    At risk / what's stolen

    Over-permissioned services, weak file/permission boundaries, and setuid paths.

    How you defend

    Drop privileges, enforce least privilege, and lock down file permissions.

  • 3
    Command & controlcommand-and-control

    Keep a remote channel to control the compromised system.

    At risk / what's stolen

    Outbound network paths the attacker uses to receive commands and stage tools.

    How you defend

    Egress filtering, DNS/traffic monitoring, and blocking anomalous outbound connections.

  • This is a defensive, conceptual walkthrough for education — stages reflect MITRE ATT&CK tactics associated with this weakness class, not a working exploit. Not every attack uses every stage.