Product:	Impacted Versions:	CVE ID:	Impact of Vulnerabilities:	Severity Ratings:	CVSS v3.1 Base/Temporal Scores:
Drive Encryption (DE)	Prior to 7.3.0 HF1	CVE-2021-23893	CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management	High	8.8 / 7.9
Recommendations:	Install or update DE 7.3.0 HF1
Security Bulletin Replacement:	None
Location of updated software:	Product Downloads site

Article contents:

• Vulnerability Description
• Remediation
• Acknowledgments
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Resources
• Disclaimer

Vulnerability Description
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a user to download and execute malicious code.

CVE-2021-23893
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in a Windows system driver of Drive Encryption (DE) prior to 7.3.0 could allow a local non-admin user to gain elevated system privileges via exploiting an unutilized memory buffer.
NVD CVE-2021-23893   
MITRE CVE-2021-23893
 
Remediation
To remediate this issue, update to DE 7.3.0 HF1.

Go to the Product Downloads site, and download the applicable product hotfix file:
 

Product	Version	Type	Release Date
DE	7.3.0 HF1	Hotfix	September 30, 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 at our Product Documentation site.
 
Acknowledgments
We credit Balazs Bucsay (@xoreipeip), Principal Security Consultant from NCC Group for responsibly reporting this flaw.
 
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:

1. Right-click the McAfee tray shield icon on the Windows taskbar.
2. Select Open Console.
3. In the console, select Action Menu.
4. In the Action Menu, select Product Details. The product version displays.

What is CVSS?
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'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 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-2021-23893: Privilege Escalation vulnerability in DE
 

Base Score	8.8
Attack Vector (AV)	Local (L)
Attack Complexity (AC)	Low (L)
Privileges Required (PR)	Low (L)
User Interaction (UI)	None (N)
Scope (S)	Changed (C)
Confidentiality (C)	High (H)
Integrity (I)	High (H)
Availability (A)	High (H)
Temporal Score (Overall)	7.9
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.

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 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.