CVE-2019-14969
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 · uneditedNetwrix Auditor before 9.8 has insecure permissions on %PROGRAMDATA%\Netwrix Auditor\Logs\ActiveDirectory\ and sub-folders. In addition, the service Netwrix.ADA.StorageAuditService (which writes to that directory) does not perform proper impersonation, and thus the target file will have the same permissions as the invoking process (in this case, granting Authenticated Users full access over the target file). This vulnerability can be triggered by a low-privileged user to perform DLL Hijacking/Binary Planting attacks and ultimately execute code as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM with the help of Symbolic Links.
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 confidenceNetwrix Auditor before 9.8 has insecure permissions on the Logs directory and sub-folders, allowing Authenticated Users full access. The service Netwrix.ADA.StorageAuditService doesn't perform proper impersonation, causing written files to inherit overly permissive ACLs. A low-privileged user can exploit this via DLL Hijacking/Binary Planting with Symbolic Links to achieve NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM code execution.
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< 9.8CVSS 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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Check if Netwrix Auditor is installedLook for the Netwrix Auditor installation directory, typically under C:\Program Files\Netwrix Auditor\ or check Add/Remove Programs for Netwrix AuditorAffected if Netwrix Auditor is present on the system
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Determine installed versionCheck the version of Netwrix Auditor by viewing the executable version or checking the installed version in programs list. Compare against the affected version range of < 9.8Affected if Installed version is lower than 9.8
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Inspect Logs directory permissionsLocate the Logs directory within the Netwrix Auditor installation folder. Right-click the folder, go to Properties, then Security tab. Check if the Authenticated Users group has Full Control or Modify permissionsAffected if Authenticated Users group has Full Control or extensive access to the Logs directory or its subfolders
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Verify Netwrix.ADA.StorageAuditService existsOpen Services.msc or run 'sc query Netwrix.ADA.StorageAuditService' to check if the service is present and runningAffected if The Netwrix.ADA.StorageAuditService service exists on the system
System is affected if Netwrix Auditor version is below 9.8 and the Logs directory grants excessive permissions to Authenticated Users, enabling low-privileged users to perform DLL hijacking for privilege escalation.
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 data9.8
Upgrade to Netwrix Auditor version 9.8 or later, which addresses the permission misconfiguration and implements proper service impersonation.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-14969 — 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-2019-14969 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