Five Ways UI Access Cracked Windows' Admin Protection — Before It Even Launched
Nine zero-days in a single feature. Researcher James Forshaw exposed how UI Access, meant for screen readers, became a backdoor to admin privileges — until Microsoft patched them all pre-launch.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Five of nine Administrator Protection bypasses exploited UI Access, a 15-year-old UAC accessibility feature.
- Bypasses relied on weak checks like file location and generic code signing — now hardened.
- Architecture lesson: Static file gates fail against evolving attacks; behavioral checks needed.
🧠 What's your take on this?
Cast your vote and see what Threat Digest readers think
Worth sharing?
Get the best Cybersecurity stories of the week in your inbox — no noise, no spam.
Originally reported by Google Project Zero
Related Stories
Data Breaches
Vertex AI's Hidden Backdoor: How Default Permissions Betray Google Cloud Users
Data Breaches
Depthfirst's $80M Sprint: Why AI Security Models Are Racing to Smart Contracts
Data Breaches
Clawdbot's Meteoric Rise Exposes AI Agents' Hidden Security Perils
Security Tools