First Published: February 11, 2021
CVE Information |
Impact of Vulnerabilities |
Low – see the description section below |
CVE IDs |
Severity Rating |
CVSS v3.1
Base Score |
Affected Products |
Impact of Vulnerabilities |
CVE-2021-3156 |
High |
7.8 |
See the Product Vulnerability Status table below |
CWE-269 – Privilege escalation |
Highest CVSS v3.1 Base Score |
7.8 |
Recommendations |
Deploy the fixes as they are made available. |
Security Bulletin Replacement |
None |
Affected Models |
See the Product Vulnerability Status table below for platform details. |
Location of updated software |
Product Downloads site |
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Article contents:
Vulnerability Description
This sudo vulnerability affects Linux-based appliances and virtual machines. McAfee products are listed in the table below with their current status. A detailed description of the vulnerability can be found on the
Red Hat security bulletin.
Some appliance products are listed as "Vulnerable and Not Exploitable - Update Planned". The reasoning for this status is:
- A vulnerable version of the sudo rpm is installed as part of the McAfee appliance image.
- The appliance is designed to be managed through the user interface, not the CLI.
- The CLI is configured to have only one user allowed to log on. This user is typically used to access through SSH and then changed to the root user. As such the sudo vulnerability is unlikely to be exploitable.
CVE-2021-3156
Sudo before 1.9.5p2 has a Heap-based Buffer Overflow, allowing privilege escalation to root via "
sudoedit -s" and a command-line argument that ends with a single backslash character.
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3156
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2021-3156
Product Vulnerability Status
This Security Bulletin will be updated as additional information is available.
Update Availability |
|
Product |
Version |
CVE-2021-3156 |
Vulnerable and Updated |
|
Data Exchange Layer (DXL) Broker |
All |
See Product Specific Notes |
Threat Intelligence Exchange (TIE) Server |
All |
See Product Specific Notes |
Skyhigh Web Gateway |
10.0.4
8.2.17 |
|
Not Vulnerable |
|
Network Security Manager (NSM) Linux |
All |
|
Network Security Platform (NSP) |
All |
|
Network Threat Behavior Analysis (NTBA) |
All |
|
SIEM Appliance Data Monitor (ADM) |
All |
|
SIEM Enterprise Security Manager |
All |
|
Vulnerable and Not Exploitable - Update Planned |
|
Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) |
All |
|
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) - Prevent and Monitor |
All |
|
McAfee Active Response (MAR) Server |
All |
|
Remediation
To remediate this issue, go to the
Product Downloads site, and download the applicable product update/hotfix files:
Product |
Version |
Type |
Release Date |
Skyhigh Web Gateway |
10.0.4
8.2.17 |
Update |
February 15, 2021 |
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 on the
Product Documentation site.
Product Specific Notes
DXL Broker and TIE Server
To upgrade to the latest version of
sudo, see
KB90843 - How to upgrade the MLOS Kernel and packages in Threat Intelligence Exchange Server to apply the latest security updates.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I know if my product is vulnerable?
For Endpoint Security on Windows:
Use the following instructions for endpoint or client-based products:
- Right-click the McAfee tray shield icon on the Windows taskbar.
- Select McAfee Endpoint Security.
- In the console, select Action Menu.
- In the Action Menu, select About. The product version displays.
For endpoint products and ENS on other platforms:
Use the following instructions for endpoint or client-based products:
- Right-click the McAfee 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.
For ePO/server products:
Use the following instructions for server-based products:
For Appliances:
Use the following instructions for Appliance-based products:
- Open the Administrator's User Interface (UI).
- Click the About link. The product version displays.
For DLP Endpoint ePO Extension:
Use the following instructions:
- Log on to the ePO server.
- Click Menu, Data Protection, DLP Policy.
- Inside the DLP console click Help, About. The product version displays.
What is CVSS?
CVSS, or Common Vulnerability Scoring System, 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've 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 do not factor into a score any potential follow-on exploits that might be made possible by the successful exploitation of the issue being scored.
Where can I find a list of all Security Bulletins?
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
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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.