CVE-2016-2542
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in Flexera InstallShield through 2015 SP1 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory of a setup-launcher executable file.
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 confidenceInstallShield 2015 SP1 and earlier versions exhibit an untrusted search path vulnerability where the setup-launcher executable loads DLLs from the current working directory without validating their paths. An attacker with local access can place a malicious DLL in the same directory as the installer, achieving arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges when the installer 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< 2015= 2015CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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.
-
Locate InstallShield installation or setup-launcher.exeSearch for setup-launcher.exe in common installation directories such as C:\Program Files\InstallShield, C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield, or directories where you have downloaded installers. Also check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\InstallShield for installation paths.Affected if setup-launcher.exe is found in any directory
-
Determine the InstallShield versionRight-click the setup-launcher.exe file, select Properties, and check the Version tab for the product version. Alternatively, check the version of the InstallShield installation in the registry or the installation directory's version info.Affected if The version is 2015 or any version earlier than 2015 (such as 2014, 2013, etc.)
-
Identify the current working directory when running the installerNote the directory from which you launch the setup-launcher.exe. Check if that directory is writable by other users or accessible without administrative privileges.Affected if The installer is launched from a directory where untrusted users can write files (e.g., Downloads, Temp, shared network folders, or user-accessible directories)
-
Verify if DLL search path includes current directoryRun the setup-launcher.exe with process monitoring tools (such as Process Monitor from Sysinternals) to observe DLL loading behavior. Look for attempts to load DLLs from the current working directory path.Affected if The process attempts to load DLLs from the current working directory without validating the full path
You are affected if InstallShield version 2015 or earlier is in use and the setup-launcher.exe can load DLLs from a directory where an attacker could place a malicious DLL.
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 data2015
Upgrade to a patched InstallShield version that implements secure DLL search path ordering (removing current directory from DLL search order) or ensure installers are launched from trusted directories with strict access controls to prevent unauthorized DLL placement.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,568.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2542 — 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-2016-2542 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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