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Endpoint SecurityApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2020-7331

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-11-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.6.1 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Unquoted service executable path in McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) prior to 10.7.0 November 2020 Update allows local users to cause a denial of service and malicious file execution via carefully crafted and named executable 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 confidence

An unquoted service executable path vulnerability in McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges by placing malicious executables in intermediate directories along the service path (e.g., Program.exe in C:\Program Files\McAfee\). Windows attempts to execute these malicious files before reaching the actual service binary due to the unquoted path.

MitigationApply McAfee Endpoint Security 10.7.0 November 2020 Update or later, which properly quotes the service executable path. For workarounds, ensure strict directory permissions to prevent unauthorized file creation in affected paths.

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
Endpoint SecurityApplication
Affected:< 10.6.1

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check installed McAfee Endpoint Security version
    Open Programs and Features in Control Panel, find 'McAfee Endpoint Security' or 'McAfee Endpoint Security for Windows', and note the installed version. Alternatively, run: msiexec /q /x {ProductCode} or check the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Endpoint-Security\ProductVersion
    Affected if Version is below 10.6.1
  2. Identify McAfee Endpoint Security services
    Open Services (services.msc) and locate services starting with 'McAfee' or 'Endpoint Security', or run: sc query type= service state= all | findstr /i "mcafee endpoint"
    Affected if Any McAfee Endpoint Security services are installed on the system
  3. Check if service executable paths are unquoted
    For each identified ENS service, run: sc qc <ServiceName> (example: sc qc mfefire) and examine the BINARY_PATH_NAME field. If the path contains spaces but is not wrapped in quotes, it is unquoted. Example unquoted: C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\mfefire.exe
    Affected if The BINARY_PATH_NAME contains spaces and lacks quotation marks
  4. Verify vulnerable path pattern exists
    Check the service binary paths identified above for the specific vulnerable pattern: C:\Program Files\McAfee\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\McAfee\ as intermediate directories. Run: reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services" /s /v ImagePath | findstr /i "mcafee"
    Affected if Service ImagePath contains unquoted paths with spaces under the McAfee\Program Files directory structure
  5. Confirm exploitable intermediate directory exists
    Check if the directory immediately BEFORE the final executable name in the service path is writable. For example, if the path is C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\somefolder\service.exe, verify if 'somefolder' allows write access to non-admin users. Use icacls "C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\<intermediate_folder>"
    Affected if Non-privileged users can create new executable files in any directory component of the unquoted service path

The system is affected if McAfee Endpoint Security version is below 10.6.1 AND any ENS service has an unquoted executable path containing spaces under the Program Files\McAfee directory structure, allowing potential privilege escalation via path injection.

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 10.6.1 or later
Fixed in 10.6.1
Interim mitigation

Apply McAfee Endpoint Security 10.7.0 November 2020 Update or later, which properly quotes the service executable path. For workarounds, ensure strict directory permissions to prevent unauthorized file creation in affected paths.

Fix this in Endpoint Security Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2020-7331 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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