CVE-2021-32577
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 · uneditedAcronis True Image prior to 2021 Update 5 for Windows allowed local privilege escalation due to insecure folder permissions.
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 confidenceAcronis True Image for Windows prior to version 2021 Update 5 contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability stemming from insecure folder permissions, allowing a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the system.
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= 2021CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Acronis True Image versionOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or right-click the Acronis True Image shortcut and select Properties > Details to view the product version. Alternatively, run 'wmic product get name,version' or check the Windows Registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID} for the DisplayVersion value.Affected if The displayed version shows 2021 but is not Update 5 or later (for example, 2021, 2021 Update 1, 2021 Update 2, 2021 Update 3, or 2021 Update 4).
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Verify Acronis installation directory existsNavigate to the default installation path, typically C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImage or C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImage, and confirm the folder exists.Affected if The Acronis True Image installation folder is present on the system.
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Inspect folder permissions on Acronis directoriesRight-click the Acronis installation folder (such as C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImage), select Properties > Security tab, and examine the permissions. Alternatively, run 'icacls "C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImage"' from an elevated command prompt to list all granted permissions.Affected if Users without administrator privileges or the 'Users' group have Full Control, Modify, or Write permissions on the Acronis installation folders, allowing them to replace executable files.
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Check for non-admin write access to executable locationsUsing icacls, run 'icacls "C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImage\*.exe"' to verify which accounts can write to executables in the Acronis folder.Affected if Low-privilege users or the 'Users' group are listed with (F) Full Control or (W) Write permissions on executable files in the Acronis directory.
A user is affected if Acronis True Image version 2021 (before Update 5) is installed AND the Acronis program folders grant write or modify permissions to non-administrator accounts.
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 dataUpdate Acronis True Image to version 2021 Update 5 or later to remediate the insecure folder permissions that enable local privilege escalation.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-32577 — 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-2021-32577 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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- 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
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