CVE-2021-37851

Local privilege escalation via installer repair misuse

Published May 11, 2022 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

Local privilege escalation in ESET products for Windows allows local users to run malicious code with elevated privileges through installer repair. The installer repair feature executes attacker-supplied code with elevated privileges, but ESET has not disclosed the affected file, function, or trust-boundary failure. A user must already be logged on and must interact with the repair workflow; successful exploitation grants elevated code execution on the host.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability0.21%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Local privilege escalation in ESET products for Windows allows local users to run malicious code with elevated privileges through installer repair. The installer repair feature executes attacker-supplied code with elevated privileges, but ESET has not disclosed the affected file, function, or trust-boundary failure. A user must already be logged on and must interact with the repair workflow; successful exploitation grants elevated code execution on the host.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-37851
Published
May 11, 2022
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
ESET
Product
ESET Smart Security Premium
Classifications
CWE-280, CWE-755, T1548
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 11, 2022CVE 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

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=11.2 <15.1.12.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

ESET · ESET Smart Security Premiumversion=11.2 <15.1.12.0
ESET · ESET Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange Serverversion=6.0 <8.0.10020.0
ESET · ESET Endpoint Securityversion=6.0 <9.0.2046.0 changes=[{"at":"8.1.2050.0","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"8.0.2053.0","status":"unaffected"}]
ESET · ESET Mail Security for IBM Dominoversion=6.0 <8.0.14011.0
ESET · ESET Server Security for Microsoft Windows Serverversion=8.0 <9.0.12012.0
ESET · ESET NOD32 Antivirusversion=11.2 <15.1.12.0
ESET · ESET Security for Microsoft SharePoint Serverversion=6.0 <8.0.15009.0
ESET · ESET Internet Securityversion=11.2 <15.1.12.0
ESET · ESET File Security for Microsoft Windows Serverversion=6.0 8.0.12013.0
ESET · ESET Endpoint Antivirusversion=6.0 <9.0.2046.0 changes=[{"at":"8.1.2050.0","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"8.0.2053.0","status":"unaffected"}]

Published CVSS scores

7.3ESETCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-280Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges
CWE-755Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions
T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

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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