CVE-2019-17446
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Eracent EPA Agent through 10.2.26. The agent executable, when installed for non-root operations (scanning), can be used to start external programs with elevated permissions because of an Untrusted Search Path.
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 Eracent EPA Agent through version 10.2.26 contains an Untrusted Search Path vulnerability. When the agent is installed for non-root scanning operations, it can be exploited to start external programs with elevated permissions because the application does not securely resolve executable paths, allowing attackers to inject malicious programs into the search path.
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<= 10.2.26CVSS 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:3.1/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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Detect Eracent EPA Agent installationUse system inventory tools (e.g., 'rpm -qa | grep -i epa', 'dpkg -l | grep -i epa', or 'Get-WmiObject -Filter "Name like '%EPA%'"' on Windows) to check if Eracent EPA Agent is present on the systemAffected if The agent is found installed on the system
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Identify installed versionLocate the agent's version information through installed package details, a version flag (e.g., 'epaagent -v'), or check the program's properties/details. Compare the discovered version to 10.2.26Affected if The installed version is 10.2.26 or lower
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Check scanning mode configurationExamine the agent's configuration files or settings for scanning operations mode. Look for whether the agent runs with root/superuser privileges or in a non-root user context for scanning tasksAffected if The agent is configured to perform non-root scanning operations (runs scanning as a non-privileged user)
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Inspect external program execution settingsReview the agent's configuration for any settings related to invoking external programs, utilities, or third-party tools during scanning workflows. Check if these calls rely on relative paths or the system PATH variable rather than absolute pathsAffected if The configuration shows external programs are invoked without using fully-qualified absolute paths
You are affected if Eracent EPA Agent version 10.2.26 or lower is installed and is configured to perform non-root scanning operations that execute external programs using unresolved paths.
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 dataImplement absolute path validation for all external program calls and ensure the application uses full path specifications instead of relying on the system PATH environment variable. Review and harden the privilege escalation path used for non-root scanning operations.
- 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-2019-17446 — 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-2019-17446 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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