CVE-2017-7884
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 · uneditedIn Adam Kropelin adk0212 APC UPS Daemon through 3.14.14, the default installation of APCUPSD allows a local authenticated, but unprivileged, user to run arbitrary code with elevated privileges by replacing the service executable apcupsd.exe with a malicious executable that will run with SYSTEM privileges at startup. This occurs because of "RW NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users" permissions for %SYSTEMDRIVE%\apcupsd\bin\apcupsd.exe.
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 confidenceAPC UPS Daemon default installation grants 'Authenticated Users' write permissions to the service executable (apcupsd.exe), allowing a local authenticated unprivileged user to replace the binary with malicious code that executes with SYSTEM privileges when the service starts.
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<= 3.14.14CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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.
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Locate apcupsd.exe installationSearch for apcupsd.exe in common installation paths: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\apcupsd\bin\apcupsd.exe, C:\Program Files\apcupsd\bin\apcupsd.exe, or use 'where apcupsd.exe' commandAffected if apcupsd.exe is found on the system
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Verify the service is installedRun 'sc query apcupsd' or check Windows Services for 'APC UPS Service' to confirm the daemon is registered as a Windows serviceAffected if The APC UPS Daemon service is registered
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Check file permissions on apcupsd.exeRight-click apcupsd.exe, go to Properties > Security tab, click Advanced. Check the Permissions entry for each user/groupAffected if The file permissions show any entry granting write or full control to 'Authenticated Users' or 'Users' group
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Confirm write access exists for non-admin usersUse 'icacls apcupsd.exe' command or examine the Effective Access tab in file properties to test whether a standard authenticated user can modify the fileAffected if A standard user account can write to or replace apcupsd.exe
If Authenticated Users or non-administrator accounts have write permissions to the apcupsd.exe file, the system is vulnerable to local privilege escalation via service binary replacement.
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 dataRestrict write permissions on %SYSTEMDRIVE%\apcupsd\bin\apcupsd.exe to only SYSTEM and Administrators; verify the service starts and functions correctly after applying stricter permissions.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-7884 — 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-2017-7884 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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