CVE-2018-6677
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 · uneditedDirectory Traversal vulnerability in the administrative user interface in McAfee Web Gateway (MWG) MWG 7.8.1.x allows authenticated administrator users to gain elevated privileges via unspecified vectors.
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 confidenceMcAfee Web Gateway 7.8.1.x contains a directory traversal vulnerability in its administrative web interface. An authenticated administrator can exploit this flaw to access files outside the intended web root directory, potentially escaping the application sandbox and gaining elevated privileges on the underlying system.
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= 7.8.1.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify McAfee Web Gateway installationLocate the installation directory for McAfee Web Gateway, typically found in C:\Program Files\McAfee\Web Gateway or /opt/mwg/ on Linux systems. Verify the presence of the mwg-ui web application files.Affected if McAfee Web Gateway is installed on the system
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Check installed versionLocate the version file or check the administrative interface for the exact version number. On the appliance, this is typically visible in the GUI footer or via CLI command: 'mwg-deploy -v' or inspecting version.info in the installation directory.Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.8.1.0
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Verify administrative web interface accessibilityDetermine if the administrative web interface (default ports 4712, 443, or 8080) is accessible from network locations. Check firewall rules and UI access control settings in the appliance configuration.Affected if The administrative interface is accessible from any network beyond localhost
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Confirm administrative credentials existReview local user accounts or directory integration settings for the Web Gateway administrative UI. Check if any administrator-level accounts are enabled and active.Affected if There is at least one active administrator account configured for the web interface
You are affected if McAfee Web Gateway version 7.8.1.0 is installed AND the administrative web interface is network-accessible with at least one active administrator account, as the directory traversal requires authenticated administrator access to exploit.
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 vendor-supplied patch for CVE-2018-6677. Until patched, restrict administrative UI access to a minimal set of trusted IP addresses and monitor for unusual file access patterns.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6677 — 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-2018-6677 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