Privilege Escalation

Privilege escalation is a security process where a user or attacker gains higher access rights on a system than intended. This can happen when vulnerabilities or misconfigurations are exploited, allowing unauthorized users to perform actions usually restricted to administrators or system owners. Essentially, it's like someone finding a way to move from being a regular user to having full control over a system without permission. Preventing privilege escalation involves keeping systems updated, applying security patches, and using proper access controls to limit what each user can do.