CVE-2018-8790
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 · uneditedCheck Point ZoneAlarm version 15.3.064.17729 and below expose a WCF service that can allow a local low privileged user to execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM.
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 confidenceCheck Point ZoneAlarm versions 15.3.064.17729 and below expose a WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) service with insufficient access controls, allowing a local low-privileged user to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM-level permissions.
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<= 15.3.064.17729CVSS 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:3.0/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.
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Verify ZoneAlarm installationLook for ZoneAlarm installation in Program Files\CheckPoint\ZoneAlarm or check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\CheckPoint\ZoneAlarm for the installed product.Affected if ZoneAlarm is not found on the system, the vulnerability does not apply.
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Determine installed ZoneAlarm versionCheck the version of the installed ZoneAlarm executable (e.g., vsdatant.sys, TrueVector service, or the main GUI executable) by right-clicking the file and viewing Properties, or query the registry key that contains the version information.Affected if The installed version is 15.3.064.17729 or lower.
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Identify WCF service componentList running Windows services related to Check Point ZoneAlarm (e.g., Check Point TrueVector, vsdatant, or ZoneAlarm client service) using services.msc or the 'sc query' command. Identify if a WCF-based remoting service is exposed.Affected if The vulnerable WCF service is present and running as a privileged account.
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Confirm service runs with elevated privilegesView the service properties in services.msc and check the 'Log on as' account. The WCF service typically runs under LocalSystem or a privileged account.Affected if The ZoneAlarm WCF service runs under LocalSystem, SYSTEM, or an administrator account, allowing a low-privileged user to trigger the privilege escalation.
You are affected if ZoneAlarm version 15.3.064.17729 or lower is installed and the vulnerable WCF service is running with SYSTEM or elevated privileges, enabling a local low-privileged user to escalate to SYSTEM-level access.
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 or update to a ZoneAlarm version newer than 15.3.064.17729 to remediate the WCF service privilege escalation vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-8790 — 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-2018-8790 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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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
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