CVE-2020-7314
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 Data Exchange Layer (DXL) Client for Mac shipped with McAfee Agent (MA) for Mac prior to MA 5.6.6 allows local users to run commands as root via incorrectly applied permissions on temporary 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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the McAfee Agent (MA) for Mac installer, specifically affecting the Data Exchange Layer (DXL) Client component. The vulnerability stems from incorrectly applied permissions on temporary files created during installation, which allows a local unprivileged user to manipulate these files to execute commands with root 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
- 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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Check if McAfee Agent is installedOpen Terminal and run: ls /Library/McAfee/agent/ or check for /Library/McAfee/agentmasx processAffected if McAfee Agent is not present on the system (not affected)
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Determine installed McAfee Agent versionRun: /Library/McAfee/agent/bin/agentVersion -v 2>/dev/null or check /Library/McAfee/agent/version.iniAffected if Installed version is earlier than 5.6.6 (potentially affected)
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Check if DXL Client component is presentLook for /Library/McAfee/agent/scripts/DXL or check for DXL-related files in /Library/McAfee/agent/Affected if DXL Client component is installed on the system (vulnerable if agent version < 5.6.6)
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Verify temporary file permissions from installationReview installation logs in /var/log/ or check if installer left temp files in /tmp/ with world-writable permissions (requires log review or forensics)Affected if Temporary files created during installation were world-writable or modifiable by non-root users
System is affected if McAfee Agent version is below 5.6.6 AND the DXL Client component is installed, allowing a local user to potentially escalate privileges via improperly secured temporary files.
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 Mac to version 5.6.6 or later, which contains the corrected installer with proper temporary file permissions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7314 — 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-2020-7314 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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