Administrator code execution via replaceable temporary file
Published Oct 26, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024
Privilege escalation in McAfee Total Protection before 16.0.34 allows local users to execute arbitrary code as an administrator. The Windows trial installer creates a specific temporary file that a local user can replace before the installer consumes it, causing attacker-controlled code to run with the installer's administrative rights. Exploitation requires local access and installation of the trial edition; the published mechanism does not apply to the macOS product.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in McAfee Total Protection before 16.0.34 allows local users to execute arbitrary code as an administrator. The Windows trial installer creates a specific temporary file that a local user can replace before the installer consumes it, causing attacker-controlled code to run with the installer's administrative rights. Exploitation requires local access and installation of the trial edition; the published mechanism does not apply to the macOS product.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-23877
- Published
- Oct 26, 2021
- Updated
- Aug 3, 2024
- Vendor
- McAfee
- Product
- McAfee Total Protection
- Classifications
- CWE-269, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 26, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=unspecified <16.0.34
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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