Description

Use of incorrectly-resolved name or reference in Azure Arc allows an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "10.0",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-20T22:17:55.597Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-20T22:17:55.597Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An elevation of privilege vulnerability has been identified within Azure Arc, specifically involving the use of an incorrectly-resolved name or reference. This security flaw enables an unauthorized, network-positioned attacker to execute actions leading to unauthorized privilege escalation. The vulnerability affects the Azure Arc product ecosystem, posing severe risks to cloud resource management and infrastructure integrity. An attacker capable of exploiting this flaw can leverage improperly resolved references to manipulate system behavior, bypassing security controls to gain elevated privileges over the network. Successful exploitation does not inherently require prior authentication, depending on the network exposure of the affected service endpoints, thereby lowering the attack complexity for malicious actors operating within reachable network segments. The potential impact includes unauthorized access to sensitive management planes, compromise of connected hybrid infrastructure, and unauthorized administrative control over managed resources. Organizations utilizing Azure Arc must prioritize remediation through official vendor patches and strict network segmentation to mitigate the risk of exploitation.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability stems from improper name or reference resolution mechanisms within Azure Arc components. In distributed systems and cloud management agents, references to internal services, endpoints, or objects must be resolved securely and deterministically. When an application fails to properly validate, canonicalize, or resolve names and references, it becomes susceptible to manipulation, such as time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) flaws, injection, or redirection attacks like spoofing or hijacking of logical pathways.\nThe root cause is anchored in the insecure handling of resource identifiers or network names, allowing an adversary to substitute expected references with malicious alternatives. In the context of Azure Arc, this incorrect resolution can occur when agents communicate with local or remote control planes, or when internal routing logic processes unverified naming structures.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: First, the unauthorized attacker identifies a network-exposed vector where name or reference resolution takes place within the Azure Arc architecture. Second, the attacker crafts a manipulated input or intercepts legitimate resolution requests over the network, exploiting the improper resolution logic to point to an attacker-controlled resource, endpoint, or object context. Third, the Azure Arc service or agent processes the incorrectly resolved reference, mistakenly trusting the illegitimate context. Finally, this trust exploitation allows the attacker to execute privileged operations or access restricted system functions, resulting in a successful elevation of privilege over the network.\nThe vulnerable component involves the resolution routines responsible for identifying and connecting to internal dependencies or services within Azure Arc. The exploitation requires network connectivity to the vulnerable service interface and the ability to influence or spoof the name/reference resolution process. Because the flaw permits privilege escalation, a successful attack transitions the adversary from an unprivileged or low-privileged network entity to an elevated operational state, granting extended capabilities within the targeted hybrid cloud management scope."
}