CVE-2020-7260
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 Side Loading vulnerability in the installer for McAfee Application and Change Control (MACC) prior to 8.3 allows local users to execute arbitrary code via execution from a compromised folder.
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 confidenceA DLL side-loading vulnerability in the McAfee Application and Change Control (MACC) installer prior to version 8.3 allows local users to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious DLL in the same directory as the installer. When the installer runs, it loads the attacker's DLL instead of the legitimate one, enabling code execution with the installer's privileges.
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< 8.3.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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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Verify MACC is installedCheck for McAfee Application and Change Control in the system registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\ or look for the MACC executable (screx.exe or similar) in the McAfee installation directory, typically found in C:\Program Files\McAfee or C:\Program Files (x86)\McAfeeAffected if MACC is not found on the system, then this CVE does not apply
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Determine installed MACC versionRight-click on the main MACC executable (commonly screx.exe in the McAfee Application and Change Control program folder), select Properties, and view the File Version information on the Details tab, or use the command 'wmic product where "name like '%McAfee Application and Change Control%'" get version' to query the installed versionAffected if The displayed version is less than 8.3.0 (for example, 8.2.x, 8.1.x, or earlier)
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Confirm the installer version if recently updatedIf MACC was recently installed or updated, check the installer version used by reviewing the installation logs in %TEMP% or the McAfee installation source files, right-click on the installer executable (such as Mappsetup.exe or similar MACC installer) and view its file versionAffected if The installer version used is prior to 8.3.0 and was used to install MACC
The system is affected by CVE-2020-7260 if McAfee Application and Change Control is installed with a version lower than 8.3.0, as the DLL side-loading vulnerability exists in installers prior to that version.
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 data8.3.0
Upgrade McAfee Application and Change Control to version 8.3 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7260 — 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-2020-7260 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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