NI NI-PAL up to 26.3.1 NI-PAL kernel driver privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
8.8$0-$5k1.19+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as very critical has been reported in NI NI-PAL up to 26.3.1. Impacted is an unknown function of the component NI-PAL kernel driver. The manipulation leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-18485. An attack has to be approached locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in NI NI-PAL up to 26.3.1. It has been rated as very critical. This issue affects an unknown code of the component NI-PAL kernel driver. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

There is a local privilege escalation vulnerability recently discovered in the NI-PAL kernel driver.  This may allow a local, authenticated user to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code.  This vulnerability affects NI-PAL 26.3.1 and prior versions running on Microsoft Windows.

The advisory is shared at ni.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-18485 since 07/31/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/05/2026). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.8

VulDB Base Score: 8.8
VulDB Temp Score: 8.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

07/31/2026 CVE reserved
08/05/2026 +5 days Advisory disclosed
08/05/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/05/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: ni.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-18485 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-18485
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-386369

Entryinfo

Created: 08/05/2026 21:18
Changes: 08/05/2026 21:18 (52)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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