CVE-2020-7263
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 · uneditedImproper access control vulnerability in ESconfigTool.exe in McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows all current versions allows local administrator to alter ENS configuration up to and including disabling all protection offered by ENS via insecurely implemented encryption of configuration for export and import.
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 · moderate confidenceA vulnerability in ESconfigTool.exe allows local administrators to alter McAfee Endpoint Security configuration by exploiting insecure encryption in the configuration export/import feature, potentially disabling all endpoint protection.
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= 10.5.0= 10.5.1= 10.5.2= 10.5.3= 10.5.4= 10.5.5= 10.6.0= 10.6.1= 10.7.0CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/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 Endpoint Security versionOpen Windows Programs and Features, find McAfee Endpoint Security, and note the version column. Alternatively, run 'wmic product get name,version' or check the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Endpoint_SecurityAffected if The installed version matches 10.5.0, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, 10.6.0, 10.6.1, or 10.7.0
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Locate ESconfigTool.exeNavigate to the McAfee installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\ or C:\Program Files\McAfee\ENS\) and verify ESconfigTool.exe existsAffected if ESconfigTool.exe is present on the system
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Verify export/import feature accessibilityRun ESconfigTool.exe with /? or check its help documentation to confirm the export and import configuration commands are availableAffected if The export and import configuration features are accessible via ESconfigTool.exe
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Assess local administrator accessCheck which users have local administrator privileges on the system using 'net localgroup Administrators' or Active Directory group membership reviewAffected if Any user other than the designated security administrator has local administrator rights to the system
Your environment is affected if McAfee Endpoint Security version 10.5.0 through 10.7.0 is installed, ESconfigTool.exe with export/import capability is present, and untrusted local administrators have access to the system.
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 dataApply vendor-supplied patches from McAfee; until patched, restrict administrative access to systems and audit/audit configuration changes to ESconfigTool.exe.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7263 — 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-2020-7263 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
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