Local privilege escalation via MSI symlink deletion
Published Mar 21, 2023 · Updated Feb 26, 2025
Link-following in Cloudflare cloudflared 2023.3.0 and earlier allows local users to escalate privileges through the 32-bit Windows MSI. The MSI repair path trusts a world-writable directory, so an attacker-controlled symbolic link redirects a privileged file deletion to an otherwise protected path. A non-administrative local account can delete system files during repair, while the cloudflared client binary itself is unaffected.
Summary
What happened
Link-following in Cloudflare cloudflared 2023.3.0 and earlier allows local users to escalate privileges through the 32-bit Windows MSI. The MSI repair path trusts a world-writable directory, so an attacker-controlled symbolic link redirects a privileged file deletion to an otherwise protected path. A non-administrative local account can delete system files during repair, while the cloudflared client binary itself is unaffected.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-1314
- Published
- Mar 21, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2025
- Vendor
- Cloudflare
- Product
- cloudflared
- Classifications
- CWE-59, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 21, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 26, 2025Record 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=0 <=<=2023.3.0 changes=[{"at":"2023.3.1","status":"unaffected"}]
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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