CVE-2021-23878
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 · uneditedClear text storage of sensitive Information in memory vulnerability in McAfee Endpoint Security (ENS) for Windows prior to 10.7.0 February 2021 Update allows a local user to view ENS settings and credentials via accessing process memory after the ENS administrator has performed specific actions. To exploit this, the local user has to access the relevant memory location immediately after an ENS administrator has made a configuration change through the console on their machine
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 stores sensitive information (settings and credentials) in plaintext in process memory. A local unprivileged user with physical or terminal access can read this memory to extract sensitive data, but only if they access it immediately after an administrator makes configuration changes through the console.
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< 10.7.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Confirm McAfee Endpoint Security is installedCheck for the presence of McAfee Endpoint Security by looking for its installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security) or by running 'Get-ItemProperty' in PowerShell for the registry key at HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Endpoint SecurityAffected if ENS is not found on the system, this CVE does not apply
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Identify the installed ENS versionOpen Windows Task Manager, locate the 'McShield' or 'Endpoint Security' process, right-click and select 'Properties' to view the file version, or use PowerShell: Get-ItemProperty 'C:\Program Files\McAfee\Endpoint Security\ENSAMCoreService.exe' | Select-Object VersionInfoAffected if Unable to determine the version, manual inspection required
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Compare version against affected rangeCompare the identified version number to 10.7.0. Versions below 10.7.0 are affected. The exact version can also be checked via registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Endpoint Security\ProductVersionAffected if Version is below 10.7.0 (for example, 10.6.x, 10.5.x, etc.)
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Assess exposure window (optional context)Note that the memory exposure only occurs transiently: immediately after an administrator makes configuration changes through the ENS console. This is a timing-dependent condition and not a persistent misconfigurationAffected if This condition describes when the vulnerability manifests but does not change the version-based affected status
If McAfee Endpoint Security is installed and its version is below 10.7.0, the system is affected by this CVE and exposes plaintext sensitive data in memory transiently after admin configuration changes.
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 data10.7.0
Update McAfee Endpoint Security to version 10.7.0 February 2021 Update or later to receive the vendor patch that addresses cleartext memory storage.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2021-23878 — 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-2021-23878 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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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.
- 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