CVE-2026-12964 in AXIS Camera Station Pro
Summary
by MITRE • 11/10/2026
A vulnerability allowing for privileged escalation of the viewer account to gain administrator privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/10/2026
The vulnerability described represents a critical security flaw within an application or system that permits a user with standard viewing permissions to escalate their access rights to those of a system administrator. This type of issue is fundamentally classified as an insecure direct object reference combined with broken access control, falling under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management. The core technical flaw typically stems from insufficient validation on the server side regarding user roles and permissions when processing specific requests or API calls. Instead of strictly enforcing role-based access controls, the system likely relies on client-side checks or fails to verify that a viewer account possesses the necessary authorization headers or tokens required for administrative actions. This allows an attacker to manipulate input parameters, such as changing a user ID from a low-privilege identifier to one associated with high privileges, or by modifying session cookies and JSON web tokens to impersonate an administrator role without possessing the corresponding credentials.
From an operational perspective, the impact of this vulnerability is severe because it bypasses the principle of least privilege, which is essential for maintaining system integrity. Once a viewer account gains administrative access, the attacker can perform any action available to the highest-level user within the environment. This includes creating new accounts with elevated privileges, modifying critical configuration settings, accessing sensitive data repositories that are normally restricted from viewers, and potentially executing arbitrary code if the administration interface allows for script injection or command execution features. The ability to escalate privileges effectively neutralizes other security controls such as firewalls or intrusion detection systems because the attacker operates within a trusted context, making their activities difficult to distinguish from legitimate administrative behavior. This can lead to complete compromise of the underlying infrastructure, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement into more secure network segments if the administrator account has broader access rights across multiple services.
To mitigate this vulnerability, developers must implement robust server-side authorization checks for every action that involves privilege escalation or sensitive operations. It is imperative to enforce role-based access control mechanisms where permissions are verified against a centralized policy engine rather than relying on client-supplied data. Input validation should be strictly applied to all parameters related to user identity and roles, ensuring they match expected formats and authorized values. Additionally, implementing multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts adds an extra layer of defense, although it does not replace the need for proper access control logic. Regular security audits and penetration testing focused on broken object level authorization can help identify similar flaws before deployment. Logging and monitoring should also be enhanced to detect unusual patterns of privilege escalation attempts, such as a viewer account suddenly accessing administrative endpoints or modifying system configurations, allowing for rapid incident response and remediation.