News > Internet & Security New Bug in Razer Software Could Allow Users to Gain Admin Access The exploit affects Windows 10 and Windows 11 users By Cesar Cadenas Cesar Cadenas Twitter Writer California State University - Long Beach Cesar Cadenas has been writing about the tech industry since 2016 on a variety of topics like cryptocurrency, video games, the latest gadgets, and much more. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on August 23, 2021 02:02PM EDT Fact checked by Rich Scherr Fact checked by Rich Scherr Twitter University of Maryland Baltimore County Rich Scherr is a seasoned technology and financial journalist who spent nearly two decades as the editor of Potomac and Bay Area Tech Wire. lifewire's fact checking process Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Internet & Security Mobile Phones Internet & Security Computers & Tablets Smart Life Home Theater & Entertainment Software & Apps Social Media Streaming Gaming A new bug has been discovered in Razer software that can give someone admin access to a Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer. The exploit was discovered by security researcher jonhat, who shared his findings on Twitter in a video detailing the process. Tech news site Bleeding Computer replicated the access and stated it took 2 minutes to gain admin privileges on a Windows 10 computer. Oscar Wong/Getty Images The way the exploits works is through Razer’s Synapse software, which is a hardware configuration tool. When someone plugs in a Razer device, a mouse, for example, into their Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC, the computer will download Synapse to configure the device and allow various functions to be available. It is during this process that hackers can exploit a flaw in the configuration process to gain access to the computer on which the device is being installed. One of the biggest issues with this exploit is how widespread and easy to gain access it is. Razer sells mice for as low as $20 on Amazon, and according to the company, Synapse is used by over 100 million users worldwide. MoMo Productions/Getty Images It’s important to note that any software that has the option to control applications and automatically install itself (in the same manner that Synapse does) can make a computer vulnerable to this exploit. Jonhat later tweeted that Razer had contacted him and is currently working on a fix. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up! Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit