CVE-2019-3646
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 · uneditedDLL Search Order Hijacking vulnerability in Microsoft Windows client in McAfee Total Protection (MTP) Free Antivirus Trial 16.0.R18 and earlier allows local users to execute arbitrary code via execution from a compromised folder placed by an attacker with administrator rights.
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 confidenceDLL Search Order Hijacking vulnerability in McAfee Total Protection (MTP) Free Antivirus Trial 16.0.R18 and earlier allows local users with administrator privileges to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious DLL in a compromised folder that the application searches during DLL loading.
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<= 16.0.r18CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/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 if McAfee Total Protection is installedCheck the installed programs list or look for McAfee Total Protection in the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ or via 'Programs and Features' in Control PanelAffected if McAfee Total Protection is present on the system
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Determine the installed version of McAfee Total ProtectionOpen Programs and Features, find McAfee Total Protection, and note the version number shown, or check the version in the registry entryAffected if The version is 16.0.R18 or earlier (any version <= 16.0.R18)
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Verify the application uses a vulnerable DLL search pathUse process monitoring tools or examine the application binaries to identify folders in the DLL search order. Check if any of these folders are writable by standard user accounts or have weak ACLsAffected if The application loads DLLs from a folder that allows write access to non-privileged users or is vulnerable to injection
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Check for unauthorized DLLs in application directoriesInspect the McAfee Total Protection installation directory for unexpected or unauthorized DLL files, particularly in folders used during application startupAffected if Unexpected DLL files exist in the application directories that were not shipped with the product
A system is affected if McAfee Total Protection version 16.0.R18 or earlier is installed and the application searches DLLs from a folder with insecure permissions.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched McAfee Total Protection version. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict user privileges and monitor system folders for unauthorized modifications.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-3646 — 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-2019-3646 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data