Privilege Escalation

Privilege escalation in smart contracts occurs when a user gains a higher level of access or administrative authority than they were intended to have. This can happen through flawed access control logic, such as an incorrectly initialized contract where the owner is not set, or by exploiting logic bugs that grant administrative rights to any caller.

Once privilege is escalated, the attacker can manipulate protocol settings, change interest rate models, or disable security features. This is distinct from bypasses, as it involves gaining a persistent elevated state rather than just bypassing a single check.

It is a critical failure in the architectural design of permissions. Robust role-based access control systems are required to prevent these scenarios.