7 ZipApplication

CVE-2018-10172

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 18.01 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Zero-click

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 · unedited
7-Zip through 18.01 on Windows implements the "Large memory pages" option by calling the LsaAddAccountRights function to add the SeLockMemoryPrivilege privilege to the user's account, which makes it easier for attackers to bypass intended access restrictions by using this privilege in the context of a sandboxed process. Note: This has been disputed by 3rd parties who argue this is a valid feature of Windows.

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 · moderate confidence

7-Zip versions through 18.01 on Windows implement the 'Large memory pages' feature by calling LsaAddAccountRights to add the SeLockMemoryPrivilege to the user's account. This privilege can be leveraged by attackers in sandboxed processes to bypass intended access restrictions, creating a privilege escalation pathway.

MitigationDisable or avoid using the 'Large memory pages' feature in 7-Zip, and review user accounts for unintended SeLockMemoryPrivilege assignments; alternatively, obtain and deploy an updated 7-Zip version if a fix has been released.

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
7 ZipApplication
Affected:<= 18.01

CVSS 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
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed 7-Zip version
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, find 7-Zip and note the version, or run '7z' command line and check version output
    Affected if Version is 18.01 or lower
  2. Check if Large memory pages feature is enabled
    Open 7-Zip File Manager, go to Tools > Options > Settings and look for 'Large memory pages' checkbox under the General or Performance settings
    Affected if Large memory pages option is checked/enabled
  3. Verify SeLockMemoryPrivilege assignment to user account
    Run 'whoami /priv' in Command Prompt and look for SeLockMemoryPrivilege in the enabled privileges list, or use 'secedit /export' and search the .inf file for SeLockMemoryPrivilege
    Affected if SeLockMemoryPrivilege appears as enabled or present in user privileges

User is affected if running 7-Zip version 18.01 or lower AND Large memory pages feature is enabled, which results in SeLockMemoryPrivilege being added to the account.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 18.01
Interim mitigation

Disable or avoid using the 'Large memory pages' feature in 7-Zip, and review user accounts for unintended SeLockMemoryPrivilege assignments; alternatively, obtain and deploy an updated 7-Zip version if a fix has been released.

Fix this in 7 Zip Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-10172 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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