CVE-2021-35230

Privilege escalation via unquoted executable paths

Published Oct 22, 2021 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

Unquoted service paths in SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools 3.11.8 and earlier allow local users to gain elevated privileges. The Installation Wizard writes the affected service path or uninstall entry without quotes, causing Windows to treat a space-delimited path as candidate executable locations. Exploitation requires local high-privileged access to place an executable in a searched path, after which service or uninstaller launch runs it with the associated elevated context.

CVSS severity6.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.33%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Unquoted service paths in SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools 3.11.8 and earlier allow local users to gain elevated privileges. The Installation Wizard writes the affected service path or uninstall entry without quotes, causing Windows to treat a space-delimited path as candidate executable locations. Exploitation requires local high-privileged access to place an executable in a searched path, after which service or uninstaller launch runs it with the associated elevated context.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-35230
Published
Oct 22, 2021
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
SolarWinds
Product
Kiwi CatTools
Classifications
CWE-22, T1574.009
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 22, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=unspecified <3.11.9

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

SolarWinds · Kiwi CatToolsversion=unspecified <3.11.9

Published CVSS scores

6.7SolarWindsCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.2NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
T1574.009Path Interception by Unquoted Path

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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