SYSTEM privilege escalation via unquoted service paths
Published Jan 15, 2026 · Updated Jan 15, 2026
Unquoted service paths in TotalAV 5.15.69 allow local users to gain SYSTEM privileges by placing executables in parsed path segments. SecurityService, SecurityServiceMonitor, and AMSProtectedService register space-containing executable paths without surrounding quotes and run as LocalSystem. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and permission to create an executable at a candidate path that Windows resolves when an affected service starts.
Summary
What happened
Unquoted service paths in TotalAV 5.15.69 allow local users to gain SYSTEM privileges by placing executables in parsed path segments. SecurityService, SecurityServiceMonitor, and AMSProtectedService register space-containing executable paths without surrounding quotes and run as LocalSystem. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and permission to create an executable at a candidate path that Windows resolves when an affected service starts.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47787
- Published
- Jan 15, 2026
- Updated
- Jan 15, 2026
- Vendor
- Total Security Limited
- Product
- TotalAV
- Classifications
- CWE-428, T1574.009
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 15, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=5.15.69
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
- TotalAV 5.15.69 - Unquoted Service Pathproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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