CVE-2020-7288
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 McAfee Exploit Detection and Response (EDR) for Mac prior to 3.1.0 Hotfix 1 allows a malicious script or program to perform functions that the local executing user has not been granted access to.
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 confidenceMcAfee Exploit Detection and Response (EDR) for Mac contains a privilege escalation vulnerability prior to version 3.1.0 Hotfix 1. A malicious script or program running with a local user's privileges can perform administrative functions that the user has not been granted access to, effectively allowing standard users to escalate to elevated 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< 3.1.0= 3.1.0CVSS 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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Locate McAfee EDR for Mac installationOpen Finder, go to /Applications, and look for 'McAfee EDR' or 'Endpoint Detection And Response' application. Alternatively, open System Preferences and check for McAfee EDR in the preferences pane.Affected if The application is not found in expected locations, indicating it may not be installed or may use a different installation method.
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Determine installed version numberRight-click the McAfee EDR application in /Applications, select 'Get Info', and note the version number shown. Or open the application and look for 'About' or version information in the menu bar or preferences.Affected if Version cannot be determined or application is not present.
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Compare version to affected rangeCheck if the installed version is less than 3.1.0, or exactly equals 3.1.0. Note that version 3.1.0 Hotfix 1 and later are NOT affected. If the version shows 3.1.0 without Hotfix 1 mentioned, it is in the affected range.Affected if Installed version is < 3.1.0 or = 3.1.0 (without Hotfix 1), indicating the vulnerability is present.
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Verify Hotfix 1 is not appliedIf version shows 3.1.0, check for any indication of Hotfix 1 in the version string (such as '3.1.0 HF1', '3.1.0 Hotfix 1', or build number associated with the fix). Contact McAfee support if uncertain whether Hotfix 1 is applied.Affected if No Hotfix 1 is present on version 3.1.0, meaning the system is vulnerable.
A system is affected if McAfee EDR for Mac is installed with a version lower than 3.1.0 Hotfix 1, or exactly version 3.1.0 without the Hotfix 1 patch applied.
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 data3.1.0
Deploy McAfee EDR for Mac version 3.1.0 Hotfix 1 or later to all affected Mac systems. This is a patch deployment task requiring coordination across the Mac fleet.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,680.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7288 — 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-2020-7288 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data