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Web GatewayApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2020-7297

MEDIUM · 5.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-09-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.8.2.22 / 8.2.9 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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 · unedited
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in McAfee Web Gateway (MWG) prior to 9.2.1 allows authenticated user interface user to access protected dashboard data 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 · moderate confidence

McAfee Web Gateway versions prior to 9.2.1 contain an improper access control vulnerability in the user interface that allows authenticated UI users to escalate their privileges and access protected dashboard data that should be restricted to higher-privileged accounts.

MitigationUpgrade McAfee Web Gateway to version 9.2.1 or later to remediate the improper access control vulnerability.

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
Web GatewayApplication
Affected:>= 7.8.0, < 7.8.2.22>= 8.2.0, < 8.2.9>= 9.0.0, < 9.2.1

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify McAfee Web Gateway installation version
    Access the product about page or admin interface, or run the command 'mwg-deployment -version' or check /opt/mwg/bin/ on the appliance for version information
    Affected if The installed version falls within 7.8.0 to 7.8.2.21, 8.2.0 to 8.2.8, or 9.0.0 to 9.2.0
  2. Confirm the Web Gateway UI is enabled
    Verify that the management UI service is running and accessible, typically on port 4712 or 443 by default
    Affected if The UI interface is exposed and operational, which is the default configuration
  3. Check for existing UI user accounts
    Review user management section in the admin interface or query the user database to list all UI-authenticated users
    Affected if There is at least one authenticated UI user account configured in the system

You are affected if McAfee Web Gateway is running a version within 7.8.0 to 7.8.2.21, 8.2.0 to 8.2.8, or 9.0.0 to 9.2.0 and the management UI is enabled with authenticated users present.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 7.8.2.22 / 8.2.9 / 9.2.1 or later
Fixed in 7.8.2.228.2.99.2.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade McAfee Web Gateway to version 9.2.1 or later to remediate the improper access control vulnerability.

Fix this in Web Gateway Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-7297 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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