CVE-2020-7311
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 the installer in McAfee Agent (MA) for Windows prior to 5.6.6 allows local users to assume SYSTEM rights during the installation of MA via manipulation of log files.
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 the McAfee Agent installer for Windows versions prior to 5.6.6. The installer improperly handles log files during the installation process, allowing a local attacker with limited privileges to manipulate these log files to execute code with SYSTEM-level 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< 5.6.6CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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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Verify McAfee Agent is installedCheck the installed programs list in Windows Control Panel or use 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' to list installed softwareAffected if McAfee Agent does not appear in the installed programs list, meaning the product is not present
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Identify the installed McAfee Agent versionOpen the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Agent\, or check the version information of the masvc.exe or McAfeeAgent.exe binary in the installation directoryAffected if The version displayed is less than 5.6.6 (for example, 5.6.5, 5.6.4, 5.5.x, etc.)
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Check the installer log file locationsInspect the %TEMP% folder and the McAfee Agent installation directory for log files created during installation, noting their permissions and ownershipAffected if Log files in these locations are writable by non-privileged users, which would allow exploitation of the vulnerability
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Confirm the product name and vendorRight-click the McAfee Agent executable in Program Files\McAfee\Agent\ and view Properties to verify the product is McAfee Agent and not a different McAfee productAffected if The product is McAfee Agent and the version is below 5.6.6
A system is affected if McAfee Agent for Windows is installed with a version number lower than 5.6.6, and the local installation environment permits non-privileged users to write to installer log file locations.
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 data5.6.6
Upgrade McAfee Agent for Windows to version 5.6.6 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Until patched, restrict local access to systems and monitor for unauthorized installation attempts.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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-2020-7311 — 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-2020-7311 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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