CVE-2018-5240
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 Inventory Plugin for Symantec Management Agent prior to 7.6 POST HF7, 8.0 POST HF6, or 8.1 RU7 may be susceptible to a privilege escalation vulnerability, which is a type of issue that allows a user to gain elevated access to resources that are normally protected at lower access levels.
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 confidenceThe Inventory Plugin for Symantec Management Agent contains a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows users to gain elevated access to protected resources. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to 7.6 POST HF7, 8.0 POST HF6, or 8.1 RU7.
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<= 7.6= 8.0= 8.1CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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.
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Verify Symantec Management Agent installationCheck for the presence of Symantec Management Agent or Altiris agent on the system. Look for process 'aexagent.exe' or check Program Files for Altiris or Symantec folders.Affected if Symantec Management Agent is not found - not applicable to this CVE.
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Identify the Inventory Plugin versionLocate the Inventory Plugin component version. Check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\eXpress\Inventory or look for 'Inventory' plugin details in the Agent UI (right-click Agent > Advanced > Components).Affected if Unable to determine Inventory Plugin version - further investigation needed.
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Check the Management Agent base versionRun 'aexagent.exe -version' from command line, or check Add/Remove Programs for 'Symantec Management Agent' or 'Altiris Agent' version, or check registry HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\eXpress\Agent\Version.Affected if No version returned - component may not be installed.
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Compare against affected version rangesEvaluate the identified version against: 7.6 and below, 8.0 (before HF6), 8.1 (before RU7). If version is 7.6 or lower, 8.0 without HF6, or 8.1 without RU7, the environment is affected.Affected if Version is 7.6 or lower, equals 8.0 without HF6 applied, or equals 8.1 without RU7 applied - the environment is vulnerable.
A system is affected if the installed Symantec Management Agent with Inventory Plugin version is 7.6 or lower, or is 8.0/8.1 without their respective hotfixes (HF6 for 8.0, RU7 for 8.1) applied.
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 the appropriate hotfix or update rollup for the installed version: HF7 for 7.6, HF6 for 8.0, or RU7 for 8.1.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5240 — 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-2018-5240 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
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