# Privilege Escalation

A technique attackers use to gain higher-level access or permissions than they were originally granted on a system.

**Privilege escalation[↗](/privilege-escalation)** is the technique an attacker uses to gain more access than they were originally granted, moving from a low-privilege foothold, like a regular user account, to administrator or system-level control. It often exploits a software bug, a misconfiguration, or weak permission settings.

Attackers typically use privilege escalation as a second step after an initial compromise, since a low-privilege account is rarely enough to achieve their goals. Keeping systems patched, applying the principle of least privilege[↗](/principle-of-least-privilege), and monitoring for unusual permission changes all help limit the damage an attacker can do even after they get in.