Privilege Escalation Audit Prompt
Find the path from user to admin — audit for vertical and horizontal escalation: mass-assignment of roles, unchecked elevation, and operations that trust client-supplied privilege.
Overview
Privilege escalation is when a normal user becomes more than they should be — by setting their own role in a form, hitting an admin route that forgot its check, or editing a record they horizontally shouldn't reach. This prompt audits for both vertical (user→admin) and horizontal (user→other user) escalation, focusing on the places privilege is assigned, changed, or assumed.
Why This Works
- Tracing escalation paths (from→to→via) makes findings concrete and fixable
- Mass-assignment of roles is a common, severe, and easily-missed bug
- Covering indirect/chained paths catches escalation no single-endpoint review would
Best for
- Apps with roles, admin panels, or tiered privilege
- Code that assigns or changes user permissions
- Security review of privilege-sensitive flows
Not for
- Designing the role model — use the RBAC Design Prompt
- General broken-access-control — use the Authorization Review Prompt
Use cases
- Auditing for user-to-admin escalation before launch
- Checking role-assignment endpoints for over-grant
- Finding mass-assignment that lets users set their own privilege