A named pipe is an interprocess communication channel that local processes use to exchange data through a filesystem-like name. On Windows, one process creates or listens on the pipe and another connects to it, often as a simple client-server mechanism for commands, status, or configuration data. Unlike a network socket, a named pipe is usually local to the machine, but it can still cross privilege boundaries if a service running as SYSTEM exposes it to untrusted users.
Named pipes matter in cyber security because they are a common trust boundary in installers, update tools, helpers, and device-management components. If a pipe is left world-accessible, poorly authenticated, or used with unsafe input parsing, an attacker may send commands, hijack configuration, or trigger privileged actions. Defenders look for restrictive access control lists, strong authentication, and careful review of which services listen on pipes. In attacks, named pipes often appear as the control channel between an unprivileged foothold and a higher-privilege service.