CVE-2021-38088
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 Cyber Protect 15 for Windows prior to build 27009 allowed local privilege escalation via binary 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 · high confidenceAcronis Cyber Protect 15 for Windows prior to build 27009 contained a local privilege escalation vulnerability where an attacker could exploit binary hijacking to gain elevated system privileges. The vulnerability allows a local authenticated user to manipulate or replace a privileged binary to execute arbitrary code with higher permissions.
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< 15= 15CVSS 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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Verify Acronis Cyber Protect 15 is installedOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check for the Acronis Cyber Protect 15 installation directory under C:\Program Files\Acronis or C:\Program Files (x86)\AcronisAffected if Acronis Cyber Protect 15 appears in installed programs or the installation directory exists
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Locate the Cyber Protect build informationCheck the file version of the Cyber Protect executable (commonly CyberProtection.exe or similar main binary in the installation directory) by right-clicking the file, selecting Properties, and viewing the Details tabAffected if The file exists and shows version details
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Extract the build number from the version detailsIn the file Properties Details tab, locate the Product Version or File Version field and record the full version string (typically formatted as major.minor.build)Affected if A version string is displayed showing the build number
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Compare the build against the fixed versionCompare your recorded build number to 27009 - note that the vulnerable condition applies to any build number lower than 27009Affected if The installed build number is less than 27009 (for example, build 26000, 25000, etc.)
A user is affected if Acronis Cyber Protect 15 is installed with a build number lower than 27009, making the binary hijacking privilege escalation possible.
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.
dbcve · scoped15
Update Acronis Cyber Protect 15 to build 27009 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Organizations should verify the current installed build and apply the vendor-supplied patch.
Acronis Cyber Protect 15 build 27009 or later
- Identify the current build number of Acronis Cyber Protect 15 installed on the Windows system
- Navigate to the Acronis Cyber Protect 15 download page or access the update mechanism within the product
- Download or apply Acronis Cyber Protect 15 update that includes build 27009 or later
- Verify the installation completes successfully
- Confirm the build number is now 27009 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-38088 — 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-2021-38088 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