CVE-2019-3592
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 · uneditedPrivilege escalation vulnerability in McAfee Agent (MA) before 5.6.1 HF3, allows local administrator users to potentially disable some McAfee processes by manipulating the MA directory control and placing a carefully constructed file in the MA directory.
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 confidenceMcAfee Agent before version 5.6.1 HF3 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where local administrator users can manipulate the MA directory and place a specially crafted file to disable certain McAfee processes. This compromises the integrity of the security software by allowing an attacker with existing admin privileges to interfere with protection mechanisms.
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>= 5.0.0, <= 5.6.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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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Identify McAfee Agent versionCheck the installed McAfee Agent version using the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Agent\ or by running the command 'masvc -version' in the McAfee installation directoryAffected if The installed version falls within 5.0.0 to 5.6.1 inclusive, meaning it is before the 5.6.1 HF3 patch
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Verify MA directory location and permissionsLocate the MA directory (typically C:\Program Files\McAfee\Agent\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\McAfee\Agent\) and inspect folder permissions to determine if standard users have write accessAffected if The MA directory or its subdirectories are writable by users without administrator privileges, allowing manipulation of files
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Confirm McAfee processes are activeOpen Task Manager or run 'tasklist | findstr McAfee' to list running McAfee processes such as maservice.exe, macmnsvc.exe, and mcuicnt.exeAffected if Expected McAfee processes are not running or have been terminated, indicating possible exploitation
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Check for unauthorized file placementInspect the MA installation directory for any unexpected or recently modified files, particularly configuration files or DLLs that were not part of a standard installationAffected if Unexpected files exist in the MA directory that could be the specially crafted files referenced in the vulnerability description
A system is affected if the installed McAfee Agent version is between 5.0.0 and 5.6.1 and the MA directory permissions allow manipulation by local administrators to disable protection processes.
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 dataUpdate McAfee Agent to version 5.6.1 HF3 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Organizations should verify the update across all affected endpoints and confirm that McAfee processes are running normally post-update.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-3592 — 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-2019-3592 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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