8.5

CVE-2026-18485: Local Privilege Escalation in NI-PAL

Awaiting analysis
Published 05-08-2026Last modified 06-08-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-18485 is a high (CVSS 8.5) vulnerability in ni ni-pal. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.6% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
34/100
0100
Medium · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
8.5/10
010
High · v4.0 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.17%
0%100%
Low · +0.05 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 05-08-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 06-08-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

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.

CVSS metrics

4 scores · 2 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

0.17%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

6%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

Increase +0.05 pp

From 0.11% on 22-09-2026

22-09-202622-10-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Ni1 product

1 vendor · 1 product

References

1 links