CVE-2021-32580
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 4 for Windows allowed local privilege escalation due to DLL hijacking.
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 confidenceAcronis True Image for Windows versions prior to 2021 Update 4 are vulnerable to local privilege escalation via DLL hijacking. The application loads DLLs from locations an unprivileged user can write to, allowing injection of malicious DLLs that execute with elevated privileges when the application runs.
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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Identify Acronis True Image versionOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or right-click the Acronis True Image shortcut and select Properties, to view the installed version numberAffected if The version shown is 2021 but earlier than the 2021 Update 4 release
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Confirm version is the 2021 releaseCheck if the version string contains '2021' and note the full version number (for example, 2021.0.xxxx or similar numbering used by Acronis for that yearAffected if The installed version is Acronis True Image 2021 (any sub-version) rather than a different year's release
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Determine if Update 4 is appliedIn the Acronis True Image application, look in Help > About or Help > Check for Updates to see if Update 4 is installed; alternatively, check the exact build number against Acronis release notes for Update 4Affected if The application shows a build number or update level earlier than the Update 4 release for version 2021
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Verify DLL loading from writable locationsUse Process Monitor (procmon.exe from Sysinternals) to trace Acronis True Image startup and filter for DLL load operations; check if DLLs are being loaded from user-writable directories such as the application directory, temp folders, or user profile pathsAffected if The process loads DLLs from paths accessible to non-privileged users (for example, the application directory writable by standard users, or any temp/user directory)
You are affected if Acronis True Image version 2021 is installed without Update 4 applied AND the application loads DLLs from locations writable by standard users, allowing potential privilege escalation.
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 4 or later to remediate the vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 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-2021-32580 — 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-2021-32580 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