CVE-2020-7308
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 · uneditedCleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information between McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows prior to 10.7.0 February 2021 Update and McAfee Global Threat Intelligence (GTI) servers using DNS allows a remote attacker to view the requests from ENS and responses from GTI over DNS. By gaining control of an intermediate DNS server or altering the network DNS configuration, it is possible for an attacker to intercept requests and send their own responses.
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 Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows prior to version 10.7.0 February 2021 Update transmits sensitive information in cleartext over DNS to McAfee Global Threat Intelligence servers. A remote attacker who controls an intermediate DNS server or can modify network DNS configuration can intercept and view these DNS requests and responses.
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<= 10.6.1= 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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 ENS versionOpen McAfee Endpoint Security console or check program version via Add/Remove Programs, or use the McAfee Product Version reader toolAffected if Version is 10.6.1 or lower, or exactly version 10.7.0
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Verify GTI communication is enabledCheck Endpoint Security policy settings for Global Threat Intelligence or Reputation settings under the Threat Prevention moduleAffected if GTI (Global Threat Intelligence) feature is turned on and configured to query McAfee servers via DNS
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Inspect DNS traffic to McAfee serversCapture network traffic or use DNS logging to observe outgoing DNS queries to McAfee Global Threat Intelligence server domainsAffected if Cleartext DNS queries are being sent to McAfee GTI domains without encryption (no DoH/DoT)
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Review network DNS configurationCheck Windows DNS resolver settings and network DNS servers for any unencrypted DNS traffic pathsAffected if DNS queries can be intercepted by intermediate DNS servers due to cleartext transmission
You are affected if ENS version is 10.6.1 or lower, or exactly 10.7.0, AND the GTI feature is enabled, resulting in cleartext DNS queries to McAfee servers that could be intercepted.
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 dataUpdate McAfee Endpoint Security to version 10.7.0 February 2021 Update or later. Additionally, implement DNS security controls such as DNS over HTTPS (DoH) or DNS over TLS (DoT) at the network level to encrypt DNS traffic and prevent interception.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7308 — 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-2020-7308 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data