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Licensing ServicesApplication · Autodesk

CVE-2021-27032

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Autodesk Licensing Installer was found to be vulnerable to privilege escalation issues. A malicious user with limited privileges could run any number of tools on a system to identify services that are configured with weak permissions and are running under elevated privileges. These weak permissions could allow all users on the operating system to modify the service configuration and take ownership of the service.

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 · moderate confidence

The Autodesk Licensing Installer configures Windows services with overly permissive access controls, allowing any local user to modify service configuration, binary paths, or execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM-level privileges. This is a classic service permission weakness where the service runs elevated but lacks proper ACL restrictions on its executable and configuration.

MitigationRestrict write/modify permissions on the Autodesk Licensing service binary and configuration to Administrator-only using Windows icacls or equivalent, then verify the service retains correct functionality.

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
Licensing ServicesApplication
Affected:= 9.0.1.1462.100

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 Autodesk Licensing Service is installed
    Open Services console (services.msc) or run: Get-Service -Name '*Autodesk*' | Select-Object Name,Status,StartType
    Affected if No Autodesk Licensing Service found means not affected by this specific vulnerability
  2. Identify the exact installed version of Autodesk Licensing
    Check the service binary version: Right-click C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Licensing\AdskLicensingService.exe → Properties → Details → File Version, or run: (Get-Item 'C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Licensing\AdskLicensingService.exe').VersionInfo.FileVersion
    Affected if Version equals 9.0.1.1462.100 exactly matches the affected version
  3. Check service configuration permissions
    Run: sc.exe qc AdskLicensingService to view the binary path, then test write access by attempting to change the config as a non-admin user or inspect the service SDDL: sc.exe sdshow AdskLicensingService
    Affected if Non-privileged users can modify service configuration or the SDDL shows weak permissions (Everyone/Users group with write access)
  4. Inspect ACLs on the service binary and configuration files
    Run: icacls 'C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Licensing\AdskLicensingService.exe' and check the parent folder icacls 'C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Licensing'
    Affected if ACLs grant write or modify permissions to Users, Everyone, or Authenticated Users groups on the service executable or its folder

You are affected if Autodesk Licensing Service version 9.0.1.1462.100 is installed AND non-administrative users have write/modify permissions to the service binary, its folder, or service configuration.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict write/modify permissions on the Autodesk Licensing service binary and configuration to Administrator-only using Windows icacls or equivalent, then verify the service retains correct functionality.

Fix this in Licensing Services Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2021-27032 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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