CVE-2020-7296
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 Web Gateway (MWG) prior to 9.2.1 allows authenticated user interface user to access protected configuration files via improper access control in the user interface.
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 confidenceAn authenticated user with standard UI access in McAfee Web Gateway prior to version 9.2.1 can exploit improper access control in the user interface to access protected configuration files that should be restricted to administrative users, achieving privilege escalation beyond their authorized permissions.
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>= 7.8.0, < 7.8.2.23>= 8.2.0, < 8.2.11>= 9.0.0, < 9.2.3CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Determine installed McAfee Web Gateway versionLocate the version number of the installed McAfee Web Gateway instance. This is typically visible in the admin console login page, in the system information section, or via the CLI command 'mwg-regex -v' or 'webgateway-version' if available in your deployment.Affected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: 7.8.0 to 7.8.2.22, 8.2.0 to 8.2.10, or 9.0.0 to 9.2.2. Versions 7.8.2.23, 8.2.11, 9.2.3 and later are not affected.
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Verify non-administrative UI users existCheck the user configuration in McAfee Web Gateway to confirm whether standard (non-administrative) user accounts with UI access are defined in the system.Affected if Standard user accounts with UI access are present in the system, providing a potential attack vector for privilege escalation.
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Confirm UI access is enabled for standard usersReview the user role assignments and UI permissions in the McAfee Web Gateway administration console to determine if standard users are granted UI access.Affected if Standard users have UI access permissions enabled, which is required for the exploitation path described in this CVE.
You are affected if your McAfee Web Gateway version is 7.8.0-7.8.2.22, 8.2.0-8.2.10, or 9.0.0-9.2.2 AND you have standard users with UI access enabled.
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 data7.8.2.238.2.119.2.3
Upgrade McAfee Web Gateway to version 9.2.1 or later to remediate the improper access control vulnerability.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7296 — 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-2020-7296 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