dbcve.org
Total ProtectionApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2021-23877

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-10-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 16.0.34 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
Privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows trial installer of McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.34_x may allow a local user to run arbitrary code as the admin user by replacing a specific temporary file created during the installation of the trial version of MTP.

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

McAfee Total Protection trial installer prior to version 16.0.34 creates a specific temporary file during the installation process. A local unprivileged user can exploit a race condition by replacing this temporary file with malicious code, which then executes with elevated (administrator) privileges when the installer runs. This allows local privilege escalation from any user account to full administrative control.

MitigationUpgrade McAfee Total Protection to version 16.0.34 or later. Organizations should verify that all instances of the vulnerable trial installer version are updated or removed.

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
Total ProtectionApplication
Affected:< 16.0.34

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. Verify McAfee Total Protection installation
    Check for McAfee Total Protection in installed programs via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run: 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*McAfee*Total*Protection*"}' in PowerShell
    Affected if McAfee Total Protection appears in installed programs
  2. Identify installed version
    Check version in Programs and Features, or via registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Total Protection, or run: '(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Total Protection" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Version'
    Affected if Version returned is lower than 16.0.34 or version cannot be determined (may indicate trial installer)
  3. Confirm trial installer variant
    Review the program display name in Programs and Features for terms like 'Trial', 'Evaluation', or check registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Total Protection for 'Trial' value set to 1
    Affected if Program name includes 'Trial' or registry indicates trial installation
  4. Check for legacy installer remnants
    Search for old McAfee trial installer files in %TEMP%, %USERPROFILE%\Downloads, or C:\ProgramData\McAfee\Trial for .exe files with dates prior to the 16.0.34 release
    Affected if Old trial installer executables are found on the system

User is affected if McAfee Total Protection trial version is installed with a version prior to 16.0.34, as only the trial installer prior to this version contains the vulnerable temp file race condition.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 16.0.34 or later
Fixed in 16.0.34
Interim mitigation

Upgrade McAfee Total Protection to version 16.0.34 or later. Organizations should verify that all instances of the vulnerable trial installer version are updated or removed.

Recommended fix High confidence

McAfee Total Protection 16.0.34 or later

  1. Download McAfee Total Protection version 16.0.34 or later from the official McAfee download center or your organization's software distribution portal
  2. Uninstall the current vulnerable version of McAfee Total Protection if it is installed
  3. Install the updated version (16.0.34 or newer) using the downloaded installer
  4. Verify the installation completed successfully and the installed version shows 16.0.34 or higher
Caveat Minor version upgrade within same major release; standard security software compatibility considerations apply

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Total Protection Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2021-23877 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