CVE-2019-8455
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 · uneditedA hard-link created from the log file of Check Point ZoneAlarm up to 15.4.062 to any file on the system will get its permission changed so that all users can access that linked file. Doing this on files with limited access gains the local attacker higher privileges to the file.
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 confidenceIn Check Point ZoneAlarm versions up to 15.4.062, the application creates hard links from its log files to other files on the system, and during this process changes the permissions of the linked target file to allow access by all users. A local attacker can exploit this by creating hard links from ZoneAlarm log files to sensitive system files, causing those files to become world-readable/writable and enabling local privilege escalation.
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<= 15.4.062CVSS 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
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
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 ZoneAlarm installation and versionCheck for ZoneAlarm installation directory (typically in Program Files/CheckPoint/ZoneAlarm or similar) and look for version information in the application files or registry. Compare the installed version to 15.4.062 - any version at or below this threshold is affected.Affected if ZoneAlarm is installed with a version number less than or equal to 15.4.062
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Locate ZoneAlarm log directoryFind the ZoneAlarm log directory - typically in the installation folder or in %ProgramData%/CheckPoint/ZoneAlarm/logs. Identify the log files created by the application.Affected if The ZoneAlarm log directory exists and contains log files, indicating the vulnerable functionality is present
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Check log directory permissionsInspect permissions on the ZoneAlarm log directory. Determine if low-privileged users have write access to this directory.Affected if Standard users or low-privileged accounts have write permissions to the ZoneAlarm log directory, allowing them to create hard links
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Detect suspicious hard linksUse the 'fsutil hardlink list' command or 'mklink /H' analysis to enumerate any hard links pointing from ZoneAlarm log files to system files outside the ZoneAlarm directory.Affected if Hard links exist from ZoneAlarm log files to sensitive system files (such as system configuration files, password stores, or administrator-owned files)
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Check for world-readable/writable system filesReview system files and sensitive locations (such as system32 directories, user profile folders, or configuration repositories) to identify any files with overly permissive access controls (Everyone or Users group with Full Control or Write permissions).Affected if Sensitive system files or configuration files have been modified to grant world-readable or world-writable permissions, which would not be their default secure state
A system is affected if ZoneAlarm version 15.4.062 or lower is installed and the log directory allows low-privileged users to create hard links that modify permissions on sensitive files.
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 ZoneAlarm to a patched version if available. As a compensating control, restrict write permissions on the ZoneAlarm log directory to prevent unauthorized hard link creation by low-privileged users.
- 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-2019-8455 — 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-2019-8455 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
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