VSE Escalation of Privileges through Alert pop-up window
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Windows client (McTray.exe) in McAfee VirusScan Enterprise (VSE) 8.8 prior to Patch 14 may allow local users to interact with the On-Access Scan Messages - Threat Alert Window with elevated privileges via running McAfee Tray with elevated privileges.
- Published
- Jun 10, 2020
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.3% · 19th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-269
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Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.3%
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 7.8
- CNA · trellix
- 7.0
- 0.8 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| mcafee | virusscan enterprise | cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:virusscan_enterprise |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- mcafee virusscan enterprise8.8
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (trellix). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
McAfee, LLC McAfee VirusScan Enterprise (VSE)
- 8.8.x and later · before 8.8 Patch 14affected
Same product
mcafee: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2009-5118Untrusted search path vulnerability in McAfee VirusScan Enterprise before 8.7i allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL 37Monitor
- CVE-2016-8024Improper neutralization of CRLF sequences in HTTP headers vulnerability in Intel Security VirusScan Enterprise Linux (VSEL) 2.0.3 (and earli35Monitor
- CVE-2016-8023Authentication bypass by assumed-immutable data vulnerability in Intel Security VirusScan Enterprise Linux (VSEL) 2.0.3 (and earlier) allows35Monitor
- CVE-2016-8020Improper control of generation of code vulnerability in Intel Security VirusScan Enterprise Linux (VSEL) 2.0.3 (and earlier) allows remote a35Monitor
- CVE-2016-8022Authentication bypass by spoofing vulnerability in Intel Security VirusScan Enterprise Linux (VSEL) 2.0.3 (and earlier) allows remote unauth34Monitor
- CVE-2020-7267Privilege Escalation vulnerability through symbolic links in VSEL33Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege ManagementCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Root cause
To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-269 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
kind: ClusterRolerules: - apiGroups: ["*"] resources: ["*"] verbs: ["*"]Fixed
kind: Rolemetadata: namespace: lodos-systemrules: - apiGroups: ["apps"] resources: ["deployments"] verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.