What is privilege creep and how can I stop it?

Here are some common reasons why privilege creep occurs:

• Role changes: When employees move to a new role and their new access rights are simply added on top of their existing permissions.
• Temporary projects: Users are given extra access rights to complete short-term tasks but keep those permissions after the project ends.
• Poor offboarding processes: When employees leave a department or team, and there’s no clear step to revoke unused access.
• Overly broad access requests: Sometimes users are granted more access than necessary “just in case,” instead of assigning the minimum required.
• Lack of regular access reviews: Without periodic checks, outdated or excessive permissions go unnoticed and build up over time.
• Manual permission handling: When access is managed manually, it’s easy to forget to remove or adjust privileges as roles change.

Is Windows privilege escalation and privilege creep the same?

No, they’re not the same. Privilege creep is a long-term issue where a user gradually gets more access than they need.

Windows privilege escalation, on the other hand, is a type of attack where a malicious actor exploits system flaws to gain unauthorized access and perform tasks that require higher privileges, such as installing software or updating the registry.

Privilege creep creates the conditions that make privilege escalation easier, but the two are different problems.

Next, here are some common risks and challenges that organizations face due to privilege creep:

Increased attack surface

An increased attack surface is the result of more privileges, which means more ways for attackers to move through your systems after compromising an account.

Insider threats

Overprivileged users can intentionally or accidentally access data or systems they shouldn't, increasing the risk of internal misuse.

Compliance violations

Excessive access can lead to violations of security standards like HIPAA, GDPR or PCI-DSS.

Harder to detect threats

The more access a user has, the harder it is to spot suspicious activity, since their actions can seem legitimate, and bypass identity threat detection.

Poor accountability

With too many permissions, it becomes harder to track who did what, which in turn makes incident response slower and less effective.

Every organization must have a well-defined strategy to catch and mitigate privilege creep early. Here are some helpful tips to consider when creating your strategy:

• Periodically audit user permissions and compare them to job roles. Remove anything that’s outdated or unnecessary.
• Always follow the principle of least privilege, i.e., grant users only the minimum access required to do their jobs, nothing more.
• Use identity and access management (IAM) systems to automate permission tracking, flag excess access and enforce least privilege.
• Implement privileged access management (PAM) to control and monitor high-level access accounts.
• Implement attribute-based access control (ABAC) to add context to access decisions, such as parameters like department, device, role or location.
• Review access for users involved in temporary projects or cross-functional work to ensure they don’t retain extra permissions afterward.
• Keep an eye on discretionary or manual access grants, which often slip through standard review processes.
• If a user has high-level access but isn’t using it, that’s a red flag. Reclaim unused permissions where possible.
• Service accounts, bots and other non-human identities often get broad permissions and are rarely reviewed. Your bot management strategy should include strict access boundaries and regular checks.
• Pay special attention to zero-tier assets. These critical systems should have no default access, with all permissions strictly controlled and closely monitored.

Finally, we have some real-world examples to show how privilege creep can show up in different industries and roles:

IT admin turned project manager

An employee starts in IT with full admin rights, then moves to a project manager role. They no longer need server-level access but still have it, which is risky because any compromise of their account gives attackers direct access to critical infrastructure.

Healthcare staff changing departments

A nurse moves from pediatrics to cardiology but retains access to pediatric patient records. This could lead to unauthorized data access and HIPAA violations.

Finance team member on temporary task force

A finance analyst is temporarily added to a merger task force and gets access to confidential deal documents. Months later, they still have access even though the project is over.

Developer with production access

A software developer is given temporary access to the production environment to fix an urgent issue. That access is never revoked, creating a long-term risk.

Government contractor changing projects

A contractor working on one government project gets reassigned but keeps their old access. This exposes multiple departments to unnecessary risk.

Privilege creep is a serious security issue that can spread quickly if not addressed. Using the above guidance will help you spot early signs, clean up unnecessary access and keep your systems aligned with the principle of least privilege.