Endpoint SecurityApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2020-7250

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
Symbolic link manipulation vulnerability in McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows prior to 10.7.0 February 2020 Update allows authenticated local user to potentially gain an escalation of privileges by pointing the link to files which the user which not normally have permission to alter via carefully creating symbolic links from the ENS log file 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 confidence

McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows versions prior to 10.7.0 contain a symbolic link manipulation vulnerability in the log file directory. An authenticated local user can create symbolic links pointing to protected system files, allowing them to modify files they normally would not have permission to alter and achieve privilege escalation.

MitigationUpdate McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows to version 10.7.0 February 2020 Update or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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
Endpoint SecurityApplication
Affected:= 10.5.0= 10.5.1= 10.5.2= 10.5.3= 10.5.4= 10.5.5= 10.6.0

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify McAfee Endpoint Security is installed
    Check system for presence of McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows using system information or installed programs list
    Affected if McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows is not installed on the system
  2. Determine installed ENS version
    Use system information, registry query, or product-specific method to retrieve the exact version number of McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows
    Affected if Installed version cannot be determined or is not clearly identified
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Check if the installed version is exactly 10.5.0, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, or 10.6.0
    Affected if Installed version matches one of these: 10.5.0, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, or 10.6.0

User is affected if McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows is installed with a version between 10.5.0 and 10.6.0 inclusive

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows to version 10.7.0 February 2020 Update or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Endpoint Security Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7250 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-7250 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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