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Drive EncryptionApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2021-31853

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.2.10 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
DLL Search Order Hijacking Vulnerability in McAfee Drive Encryption (MDE) prior to 7.3.0 HF2 (7.3.0.183) allows local users to execute arbitrary code and escalate privileges via execution from a compromised folder.

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

This is a DLL Search Order Hijacking vulnerability in McAfee Drive Encryption (MDE). The vulnerability exists because the application loads DLLs without specifying full paths, allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a directory that gets searched before the legitimate location. Local users can exploit this by placing a crafted DLL in a compromised folder, achieving arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.

MitigationUpgrade McAfee Drive Encryption to version 7.3.0 HF2 (7.3.0.183) or later to remediate this vulnerability. Organizations should also review folder permissions to prevent untrusted users from writing to directories in the application search path.

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
Drive EncryptionApplication
Affected:>= 7.2.0, <= 7.2.10= 7.3.0

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 Drive Encryption is installed
    Check for MDE installation via Windows Programs and Features, or query the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\DriveEncryption or similar McAfee product keys
    Affected if McAfee Drive Encryption is present on the system
  2. Determine installed MDE version
    Use the McAfee product GUI, or query the registry or MDE-specific command-line tool to retrieve the exact version number
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or MDE is not found
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Review the installed version number against the vulnerable ranges: 7.2.0 through 7.2.10 inclusive, or exactly version 7.3.0
    Affected if Installed version falls within 7.2.0-7.2.10 or equals 7.3.0
  4. Identify application DLL search paths
    Use process monitoring tools (such as Process Monitor from Sysinternals) to observe which directories MDE components query when loading DLLs, or review application documentation for default search order
    Affected if MDE loads DLLs without specifying full paths and searches user-writable directories

A system is affected if McAfee Drive Encryption version 7.2.0 through 7.2.10 or exactly version 7.3.0 is installed, and the application performs unsecure DLL loading from directories that untrusted users can modify.

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 a release after 7.2.10
Interim mitigation

Upgrade McAfee Drive Encryption to version 7.3.0 HF2 (7.3.0.183) or later to remediate this vulnerability. Organizations should also review folder permissions to prevent untrusted users from writing to directories in the application search path.

Recommended fix High confidence

7.3.0 HF2 (7.3.0.183)

  1. Obtain McAfee Drive Encryption hotfix HF2 (version 7.3.0.183) from the McAfee KnowledgeBase (kc.mcafee.com) or your McAfee product download portal
  2. Review McAfee Enterprise product deployment documentation for Drive Encryption hotfix installation
  3. Apply the hotfix to all systems running affected versions of McAfee Drive Encryption (7.2.0 through 7.2.10 and 7.3.0)
  4. Verify the installation by confirming the version displays as 7.3.0.183 or later
Caveat Standard McAfee hotfix deployment; verify compatibility with your existing endpoint protection environment before broad rollout

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

Fix this in Drive Encryption Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,120
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,192.

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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-2021-31853 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