STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION or Event ID 4673

Blocked by 'Unauthorized Privilege Escalation Attempt' – Fix in 3 Steps

EP
Erropedia Team
📅 June 23, 2026 📅 Updated Jul 31, 2026 👁 11 views Cybersecurity & Malware Intermediate
You're seeing this when a program or user tries to get admin rights without permission. It's usually a false alarm from overprotective security settings. Here's how to shut it up.

Quick Fix (30 seconds) – Check Your User Account Control

This error shows up when Windows thinks a program is trying to sneak into admin territory. Nine times out of ten, it's just UAC being too aggressive. Here's the fastest test:

  1. Click Start, type UAC, and open Change User Account Control settings.
  2. Drag the slider down to Never notify (second notch from bottom).
  3. Click OK and restart your PC.

If the error stops, your problem was UAC. You can keep it on that setting, but most people bump it back up to the second-from-top after the error goes away. That's still pretty secure.

Don't bother checking event logs yet — this is the first thing to try because it's instant.

Moderate Fix (5 minutes) – Kill the Culprit Program

If the quick fix didn't help, the issue is a specific program trying to elevate itself. This is common with old software or custom scripts. Here's how to find and stop it:

  1. Open Event Viewer (press Win + X, then select Event Viewer).
  2. Go to Windows Logs > Security.
  3. Look for Event ID 4673 (that's the one tied to privilege escalation).
  4. Double-click any recent 4673 event. In the details, find the Process Name — it'll be something like C:\Program Files\SomeOldApp\app.exe.
  5. Now you know what's causing it. Uninstall that app, or update it to the latest version.

If it's a custom script you wrote, you need to either run it as admin manually (right-click > Run as administrator) or adjust your code to avoid asking for elevation incorrectly.

Advanced Fix (15+ minutes) – Registry Hack for Persistent Apps

This is for when the app is something you need but can't update — like that ancient printer utility or a weird line-of-business app. You can whitelist it so Windows stops blocking it.

Warning: Messing with the registry can break things. Take a backup first.

  1. Press Win + R, type regedit, hit Enter.
  2. Navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
  3. Right-click in the right pane, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
  4. Name it EnableLUA (if it doesn't exist already). Set its value to 0.
  5. Reboot.

This disables UAC entirely for that machine. It's a nuclear option — only do this on a test box or if you're sure the app is safe. If you still see the error after this, the problem is your antivirus or a group policy.

Still Stuck? Check Antivirus and Group Policy

If none of that worked, your antivirus might be blocking legitimate software. Temporarily disable it (not uninstall — just turn off real-time protection for 5 minutes). If the error goes away, whitelist the app in your AV settings.

On domain-joined machines, group policies can force this error. Run gpresult /h gpresult.html in Command Prompt (as admin). Open the HTML file and search for User Account Control. If you see any policy set to Always notify, that's your problem. Talk to your IT admin about relaxing it.

Real-world trigger: This happens a lot with Windows 10 22H2 and old Sage accounting software. The app tries to call ShellExecute with runas verb, and Windows slaps it down.

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EP
Erropedia Team
Tech Support Editors
The Erropedia editorial team researches and documents real-world tech errors from across Windows, Linux, macOS, networking, databases, cloud platforms, and more. Every solution is reviewed for accuracy and updated as software and systems evolve.