dbcve.org
Supportassist For Home PcsApplication · Dell

CVE-2021-36297

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.9.0 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
SupportAssist Client version 3.8 and 3.9 contains an Untrusted search path vulnerability that allows attackers to load an arbitrary .dll file via .dll planting/hijacking, only by a separate administrative action that is not a default part of the SOSInstallerTool.exe installation for executing arbitrary dll's,

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

Dell SupportAssist Client versions 3.8 and 3.9 contain an untrusted search path vulnerability allowing DLL planting/hijacking. Attackers can place a malicious DLL file that the application will load during execution, leading to arbitrary code execution. The attack requires a separate administrative action to place the DLL, suggesting the attacker needs elevated privileges on the system.

MitigationReplace all dynamic DLL loading with explicit full paths or use secure DLL search path ordering. Ensure the application only loads DLLs from trusted, controlled directories. Consider implementing DLL search order hijacking mitigations and updating to a patched version if available.

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
Supportassist For Home PcsApplication
Affected:< 3.9.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Dell SupportAssist is installed
    Check for Dell SupportAssist in program files: Look in 'C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssist' or 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\SupportAssist'. Also check Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for SupportAssist entry.
    Affected if The application directory exists on the system.
  2. Determine installed version
    Open the SupportAssist application and check About/Help section, or examine the file version of 'SupportAssist.exe' in the installation directory by right-clicking the file and selecting Properties > Details.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.8.x or 3.9.x (any version before 3.9.0).
  3. Check for DLL planting locations
    Examine the SupportAssist installation directory and parent directories for any unexpected or recently added DLL files that are not part of the standard installation. Also check the Windows system temp directory and user temp directories for suspicious DLLs.
    Affected if Unexpected DLL files exist in directories from which SupportAssist may load libraries.
  4. Audit DLL search path behavior
    Use Process Monitor (ProcMon) from Sysinternals to monitor SupportAssist.exe for DLL load operations. Filter by Path and look for DLLs loaded from directories outside the application folder or System32.
    Affected if The application loads DLLs from directories with weak access controls (user-writable directories).

If Dell SupportAssist version 3.8 or 3.9 is installed and the application loads DLLs from untrusted directories, the system is vulnerable to DLL planting attacks.

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 3.9.0 or later
Fixed in 3.9.0
Interim mitigation

Replace all dynamic DLL loading with explicit full paths or use secure DLL search path ordering. Ensure the application only loads DLLs from trusted, controlled directories. Consider implementing DLL search order hijacking mitigations and updating to a patched version if available.

Recommended fix High confidence

SupportAssist For Home PCs version 3.9.0 or later

  1. Navigate to Dell's official SupportAssist download page at www.dell.com
  2. Download the latest version of SupportAssist For Home PCs (version 3.9.0 or later)
  3. Run the installer with administrative privileges
  4. Follow the on-screen installation prompts to complete the upgrade
  5. Verify the installed version by checking About SupportAssist or the Programs and Features list

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

Fix this in Supportassist For Home Pcs Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36297 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2021-36297 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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