Privilege Escalation Risk in Ivanti Connect Secure

Catalog analysis: CISA added this entry on October 30, 2026. The entry reflects catalog information retrieved on October 30, 2026, not a snapshot archived on the inclusion date. This site’s publication date is shown separately. Check current vendor guidance before acting.

What the vulnerability is

CVE-2026-111357 is a missing authentication for critical function vulnerability affecting Ivanti Connect Secure. This flaw enables an attacker who already possesses local authenticated access to escalate their privileges within the system. Notably, this vulnerability can be chained with two other flaws—CVE-2026-104935 and CVE-2026-118527—to potentially increase the impact of an attack.

Exposure and applicability

This vulnerability is particularly relevant to U.S. healthcare providers, health plans, and business associates who utilize Ivanti Connect Secure as a remote access gateway. Because these gateways often serve as the perimeter protecting internal clinical systems and electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI), a privilege escalation event could allow an attacker to move from a limited-access account to a higher-privileged state, increasing the risk of unauthorized data access or system manipulation.

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on October 30, 2026, indicating that it has been observed in active exploitation.

Remediation priorities

Based on our analysis of the reported flaw and the nature of healthcare remote access infrastructure, we suggest the following prioritized actions:

1. Immediate Mitigation Deployment: Network administrators should apply mitigations exactly as prescribed by Ivanti vendor instructions. This is the primary method to reduce the likelihood of privilege escalation.
2. Forensic Triage: Because this vulnerability has been exploited in the wild and CISA indicates that forensic triage is required, security leaders should conduct a review of system logs and integrity checks to determine if unauthorized privilege escalation has already occurred.
3. Chain Analysis: Security teams should evaluate their exposure to CVE-2026-104935 and CVE-2026-118527. Since these can be chained with CVE-2026-111357, addressing them concurrently is necessary to reduce the overall attack surface.

How to validate remediation

To verify that exposure has been reduced, organizations should use the following methods:
* Version and Patch Verification: Confirm through the administrative console that the specific mitigations or updates recommended by Ivanti have been successfully applied.
* Configuration Audit: Review system configurations against vendor-provided checklists to ensure no legacy settings leave critical functions unauthenticated.
* Log Analysis: Following mitigation, monitor for failed attempts to access privileged functions that were previously exposed, which may indicate blocked exploitation attempts.

Limits and open questions

It is important to note that applying a patch or mitigation does not guarantee absolute prevention of all future attacks, as new chaining methods may emerge. Additionally, while CISA has flagged this for federal agencies with specific deadlines, non-federal healthcare entities must determine their own risk-based timelines based on their specific ePHI exposure.

At this time, it remains unknown whether this vulnerability has been utilized specifically in ransomware campaigns targeting the healthcare sector. Furthermore, because the flaw requires a local authenticated attacker, the total risk depends heavily on how an attacker first gains that initial authenticated access.

Source and editorial note

CVE-2026-111357: Ivanti Connect Secure Missing Authentication for Critical Function Vulnerability · Source date: October 30, 2026 · Retrieved October 30, 2026.

Material facts are tied to the cited primary source. Recommendations are independent defensive analysis unless attributed to the source. Confirm consequential decisions against current authoritative guidance.

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