CVE-2020-7274
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 · uneditedPrivilege escalation vulnerability in McTray.exe in McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows Prior to 10.7.0 April 2020 Update allows local users to spawn unrelated processes with elevated privileges via the system administrator granting McTray.exe elevated privileges (by default it runs with the current user's privileges).
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 local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in McTray.exe, the system tray component of McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows. The flaw allows local users to spawn unrelated processes with elevated privileges when the system administrator has configured McTray.exe to run with elevated privileges. By default, McTray.exe runs with the current user's privileges, but if an administrator grants it elevated access, local attackers can leverage this misconfiguration.
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= 10.6.0CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify McAfee Endpoint Security versionCheck the installed version of McAfee Endpoint Security by opening Programs and Features, or by checking the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Endpoint-Security\ProductVersion. Compare the version number to the affected list: 10.5.0, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3, 10.5.4, 10.5.5, or 10.6.0.Affected if The installed version matches one of the affected versions listed.
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Locate McTray.exe on the systemFind McTray.exe in the McAfee installation directory, typically under C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\ or C:\Program Files\McAfee\ENS\. Confirm the file exists.Affected if McTray.exe is present on the system.
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Check if McTray.exe is running with elevated privilegesOpen Task Manager, go to the Processes or Details tab, locate McTray.exe, right-click and select Properties. Alternatively, use Process Explorer or run 'tasklist /V' to view process privileges. Look for whether the process shows running as Administrator or with elevated token.Affected if McTray.exe is executing with elevated or administrator-level privileges rather than the standard user context.
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Verify the scheduled task or service configuration for McTrayOpen Task Scheduler and look for any tasks that launch McTray.exe with 'Run with highest privileges' enabled. Check under Task Scheduler Library > McAfee for any such configuration.Affected if A scheduled task is configured to run McTray.exe with elevated privileges.
You are affected if McAfee Endpoint Security version 10.5.0 through 10.6.0 is installed AND McTray.exe is configured to run with elevated privileges.
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 McAfee Endpoint Security to version 10.7.0 April 2020 Update or later to resolve the vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7274 — 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-2020-7274 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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