Security Bulletin - McAfee Agent update fixes two vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-31854, CVE-2022-0166)
Security Bulletins ID:
SB10378
Last Modified: 2022-12-16 17:40:56 Etc/GMT
Last Modified: 2022-12-16 17:40:56 Etc/GMT
Summary
First Published: January 18, 2022
Article contents:
To remediate this issue, customers should update to the MA 5.7.5 release.
Go to the Product Downloads site, and download the applicable product update file:
Download and Installation Instructions
For instructions to download product updates and hotfixes, see: KB56057 - How to download Enterprise product updates and documentation. Review the Release Notes and the Installation Guide for instructions on how to install these updates. All documentation is available at our Product Documentation site.
Acknowledgments
We credit the following for responsibly reporting these flaws:
CVE-2021-31854 - Russell Wells from Cyberlinx Security
CVE-2022-0166 - Will Dormann of the CERT/CC
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I know if my product is vulnerable or not?
For endpoint products:
Use the following instructions for endpoint or client-based products:
Use the following instructions for server-based products:
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is the result of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council's effort to standardize a system of assessing the criticality of a vulnerability. This system offers an unbiased criticality score between 0 and 10 that customers can use to judge how critical a vulnerability is and plan accordingly. For more information, visit the CVSS website.
When calculating CVSS scores, we have adopted a philosophy that fosters consistency and repeatability. Our guiding principle for CVSS scoring is to score the exploit under consideration by itself. We consider only the immediate and direct impact of the exploit under consideration. We don’t factor into a score any potential follow-on exploits that might be made possible by the successful exploitation of the issue being scored.
What are the CVSS scoring metrics?
All Security Bulletins are published on our Knowledge Center. Security Bulletins are retired (removed) once a product is both End of Sale and End of Support (End of Life).
How do I report a product vulnerability to you?
If you have information about a security issue or vulnerability with a product, follow the instructions provided in KB95563 - Report a vulnerability.
How do you respond to this and any other reported security flaws?
Our key priority is the security of our customers. If a vulnerability is found within any of our software or services, we work closely with the relevant security software development team to ensure the rapid and effective development of a fix and communication plan.
We only publish Security Bulletins if they include something actionable such as a workaround, mitigation, version update, or hotfix. Otherwise, we would simply be informing the hacker community that our products are a target, putting our customers at greater risk. For products that are updated automatically, a non-actionable Security Bulletin might be published to acknowledge the discoverer.
To view our PSIRT policy, see KB95564 - About PSIRT.
Resources
Disclaimer
The information provided in this Security Bulletin is provided as is without warranty of any kind. We disclaim all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall we or our suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits, or special damages, even if we or our suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states don't allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the preceding limitation may not apply.
Any future product release dates mentioned in this Security Bulletin are intended to outline our general product direction, and they shouldn't be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The product release dates are for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. The product release dates aren't a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remain at our sole discretion and may be changed or canceled at any time.
| Product: | Impacted Versions: | CVE ID: | Impact of Vulnerabilities: | Severity Ratings: | CVSS v3.1 Base/Temporal Scores: |
| McAfee Agent | Prior to 5.7.5 | CVE-2021-31854 | CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') | High | 7.7 / 6.9 |
| McAfee Agent | Prior to 5.7.5 | CVE-2022-0166 | CWE- 269: Improper Privilege Management | High | 7.8 / 7.2 |
| Recommendations: | Install or update to McAfee Agent 5.7.5 or later | ||||
| Security Bulletin Replacement: | None | ||||
| Location of updated software: | Product Downloads site | ||||
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Article contents:
- Vulnerability Description
- Remediation
- Acknowledgments
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Resources
- Disclaimer
- CVE-2021-31854
A command Injection Vulnerability in McAfee Agent (MA) for Windows prior to 5.7.5 allows local users 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.
NIST CVE-2021-31854
MITRE CVE-2021-31854
- CVE-2022-0166
A privilege escalation vulnerability in the McAfee Agent prior to 5.7.5 affecting all supported operating systems. McAfee Agent uses openssl.cnf during the build process to specify the OPENSSLDIR variable as a subdirectory within the installation directory. 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.
NIST CVE-2022-0166
MITRE CVE-2022-0166
To remediate this issue, customers should update to the MA 5.7.5 release.
Go to the Product Downloads site, and download the applicable product update file:
| Product | Version | Type | Release Date |
| McAfee Agent | 5.7.5 | Update | January 18, 2022 |
Download and Installation Instructions
For instructions to download product updates and hotfixes, see: KB56057 - How to download Enterprise product updates and documentation. Review the Release Notes and the Installation Guide for instructions on how to install these updates. All documentation is available at our Product Documentation site.
Acknowledgments
We credit the following for responsibly reporting these flaws:
CVE-2021-31854 - Russell Wells from Cyberlinx Security
CVE-2022-0166 - Will Dormann of the CERT/CC
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I know if my product is vulnerable or not?
For endpoint products:
Use the following instructions for endpoint or client-based products:
- Right-click the tray shield icon on the Windows taskbar.
- Select Open Console.
- In the console, select Action Menu.
- In the Action Menu, select Product Details. The product version displays.
Use the following instructions for server-based products:
- Check the version and build of ePO that is installed. For instructions, see: KB52634 - How to determine what hotfix is installed for ePO.
- Create a query in ePO for the product version of the product installed within your organization.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is the result of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council's effort to standardize a system of assessing the criticality of a vulnerability. This system offers an unbiased criticality score between 0 and 10 that customers can use to judge how critical a vulnerability is and plan accordingly. For more information, visit the CVSS website.
When calculating CVSS scores, we have adopted a philosophy that fosters consistency and repeatability. Our guiding principle for CVSS scoring is to score the exploit under consideration by itself. We consider only the immediate and direct impact of the exploit under consideration. We don’t factor into a score any potential follow-on exploits that might be made possible by the successful exploitation of the issue being scored.
What are the CVSS scoring metrics?
- CVE-2021-31854: Remote code injection vulnerability in McAfee Agent
Base Score 7.7 Attack Vector (AV) Local (L) Attack Complexity (AC) Low (L) Privileges Required (PR) High (H) User Interaction (UI) Required (R) Scope (S) Changed (C) Confidentiality (C) High (H) Integrity (I) High (H) Availability (A) High (H) Temporal Score (Overall) 6.9 Exploitability (E) Proof-of-Concept (P) Remediation Level (RL) Official Fix (O) Report Confidence (RC) Confirmed (C)
NOTE: This CVSS version 3.1 vector was used to generate this score.
- CVE-2022-0166: Privilege escalation vulnerability in McAfee Agent
Base Score 7.8 Attack Vector (AV) Local (L) Attack Complexity (AC) Low (L) Privileges Required (PR) Low (L) User Interaction (UI) None (N) Scope (S) Unchanged (U) Confidentiality (C) High (H) Integrity (I) High (H) Availability (A) High (H) Temporal Score (Overall) 7.2 Exploitability (E) Functional exploit exists (EF) Remediation Level (RL) Official Fix (O) Report Confidence (RC) Confirmed (C)
NOTE: This CVSS version 3.1 vector was used to generate this score.
All Security Bulletins are published on our Knowledge Center. Security Bulletins are retired (removed) once a product is both End of Sale and End of Support (End of Life).
How do I report a product vulnerability to you?
If you have information about a security issue or vulnerability with a product, follow the instructions provided in KB95563 - Report a vulnerability.
How do you respond to this and any other reported security flaws?
Our key priority is the security of our customers. If a vulnerability is found within any of our software or services, we work closely with the relevant security software development team to ensure the rapid and effective development of a fix and communication plan.
We only publish Security Bulletins if they include something actionable such as a workaround, mitigation, version update, or hotfix. Otherwise, we would simply be informing the hacker community that our products are a target, putting our customers at greater risk. For products that are updated automatically, a non-actionable Security Bulletin might be published to acknowledge the discoverer.
To view our PSIRT policy, see KB95564 - About PSIRT.
Resources
To contact Technical Support, go to the Create a Service Request page and log on to the ServicePortal.
- If you are a registered user, type your User ID and Password, and then click Log In.
- If you are not a registered user, click Register and complete the fields to have your password and instructions emailed to you.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this Security Bulletin is provided as is without warranty of any kind. We disclaim all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall we or our suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits, or special damages, even if we or our suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Some states don't allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the preceding limitation may not apply.
Any future product release dates mentioned in this Security Bulletin are intended to outline our general product direction, and they shouldn't be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The product release dates are for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. The product release dates aren't a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for our products remain at our sole discretion and may be changed or canceled at any time.
