• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet

 | 

Google fixed Chrome flaw found by Big Sleep AI

 | 

Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv discloses ransomware attack. Qilin group claims responsibility for the hack

 | 

A hacker tied to Yemen Cyber Army gets 20 months in prison

 | 

Exploit weaponizes SAP NetWeaver bugs for full system compromise

 | 

Allianz Life security breach impacted 1.1 million customers

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Trend Micro Apex One flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

AI for Cybersecurity: Building Trust in Your Workflows

 | 

Taiwan Web Infrastructure targeted by APT UAT-7237 with custom toolset

 | 

New NFC-Driven Android Trojan PhantomCard targets Brazilian bank customers

 | 

Cisco fixed maximum-severity security flaw in Secure Firewall Management Center

 | 

'Blue Locker' Ransomware Targeting Oil & Gas Sector in Pakistan

 | 

Hackers exploit Microsoft flaw to breach Canada ’s House of Commons

 | 

Norway confirms dam intrusion by Pro-Russian hackers

 | 

Zoom patches critical Windows flaw allowing privilege escalation

 | 

Manpower data breach impacted 144,180 individuals

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office Excel, and WinRAR flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Critical FortiSIEM flaw under active exploitation, Fortinet warns

 | 

Charon Ransomware targets Middle East with APT attack methods

 | 

Hackers leak 2.8M sensitive records from Allianz Life in Salesforce data breach

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Security
  • A bug in McAfee Agent allows running code with Windows SYSTEM privileges

A bug in McAfee Agent allows running code with Windows SYSTEM privileges

Pierluigi Paganini January 21, 2022

McAfee addressed a security flaw in its McAfee Agent software for Windows that allows running arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges.

McAfee (now Trellix) has addressed a high-severity vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-0166, that resides in McAfee Agent software for Windows. An attacker can exploit this flaw to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges.

The McAfee Agent is the distributed component of McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (McAfee ePO). It downloads and enforces policies, and executes client-side tasks such as deployment and updating. The Agent also uploads events and provides additional data regarding each system’s status. It must be installed on each system in your network that you wish to manage.

The CVE-2022-0166 flaw was discovered by CERT/CC vulnerability analyst Will Dormann.

“A privilege escalation vulnerability in the McAfee Agent prior to 5.7.5. McAfee Agent uses openssl.cnf during the build process to specify the OPENSSLDIR variable as a subdirectory within the installation directory.” reads the advisory published by McAfee. “A low privilege user could have created subdirectories and executed arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges by creating the appropriate pathway to the specifically created malicious openssl.cnf file.”

The security firm addressed the vulnerability with the release of McAfee Agent 5.7.5 on January 18.

The issue affects Agent versions prior of 5.7.5 and allows unprivileged attackers to run code using NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account privileges.

An unprivileged user can place a specially-crafted openssl.cnf in a location used by McAfee Agent, to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a Windows system running a vulnerable version of the agent software.

“By placing a specially-crafted openssl.cnf in a location used by McAfee Agent, an unprivileged user may be able to execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges on a Windows system with the vulnerable McAfee Agent software installed.” reads the advisory published by CERT/CC.

The vulnerability is only exploitable locally, anyway, experts warn that this issue could be chained with other issues to compromise the target system and elevate permissions to carry out additional malicious activities.

McAfee also addressed a command Injection vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2021-31854, in software Agent for Windows prior to 5.7.5. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to inject arbitrary shell code into the file cleanup.exe.

“The malicious clean.exe file is placed into the relevant folder and executed by running the McAfee Agent deployment feature located in the System Tree. An attacker may exploit the vulnerability to obtain a reverse shell which can lead to privilege escalation to obtain root privileges.” states the advisory.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, McAfee)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

code execution Cybersecurity cybersecurity news Hacking hacking news information security news McAfee McAfee Agent Pierluigi Paganini privilege escalation Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2025
Britain targets Kyrgyz financial institutions, crypto networks aiding Kremlin
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2025
DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    DOJ takes action against 22-year-old running RapperBot Botnet

    Cyber Crime / August 20, 2025

    Google fixed Chrome flaw found by Big Sleep AI

    Security / August 20, 2025

    Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv discloses ransomware attack. Qilin group claims responsibility for the hack

    Data Breach / August 20, 2025

    A hacker tied to Yemen Cyber Army gets 20 months in prison

    Cyber Crime / August 20, 2025

    Exploit weaponizes SAP NetWeaver bugs for full system compromise

    Security / August 20, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT