CVE-2009-3108
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Aclient GUI in Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9.x before 6.9 SP3 Build 430 installs a client executable with insecure permissions (Everyone:Full Control), which allows local users to gain privileges by replacing the executable with a Trojan horse program.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Aclient GUI in Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9.x before 6.9 SP3 Build 430 installs a client executable with Everyone:Full Control permissions, allowing any local user to replace the executable with a Trojan horse and gain elevated privileges when the application runs.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 6.9= 6.9.164= 6.9.176= 6.9.355CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Altiris Deployment Solution versionCheck the Windows Registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Deployment Solution\ or look in Add/Remove Programs for the installed versionAffected if Version is 6.9, 6.9.164, 6.9.176, or 6.9.355 (versions before 6.9 SP3 Build 430)
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Locate the Aclient executableSearch for 'Aclient.exe' in the Altiris installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Deployment Solution\ or C:\Program Files\Symantec\Altiris Deployment Solution\)Affected if Aclient.exe exists on the system
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Verify file permissions on Aclient.exeRight-click Aclient.exe, go to Properties > Security tab, click Advanced. Check the permissions for the 'Everyone' group.Affected if The Everyone group has 'Full Control' permission granted
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Confirm vulnerability conditionCompare: if version is one of the affected builds AND Everyone:Full Control exists on Aclient.exe, the system is vulnerable to local privilege escalationAffected if Both conditions are true: affected version range AND overly permissive Everyone:Full Control ACL
A system is affected if it runs any of the specific affected versions (6.9, 6.9.164, 6.9.176, or 6.9.355) AND the Aclient.exe file grants Everyone:Full Control permissions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor patch 6.9 SP3 Build 430 or later, or manually restrict file permissions on the Aclient executable to remove Everyone:Full Control and assign appropriate restricted permissions.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,880.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-3108 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-3108 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data