AgentApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2022-2313

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.7.7 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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
A DLL hijacking vulnerability in the MA Smart Installer for Windows prior to 5.7.7, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code and obtain higher privileges via careful placement of a malicious DLL into the folder from where the Smart installer is being executed.

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 confidence

A DLL hijacking vulnerability in the MA Smart Installer for Windows versions prior to 5.7.7 allows local users to place a malicious DLL in the directory from which the installer is executed, causing the installer to load and execute the DLL with elevated privileges.

MitigationUpgrade the MA Smart Installer to version 5.7.7 or later which addresses the DLL hijacking vulnerability. As a temporary measure, ensure the installer is run from a controlled directory with restricted write 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
AgentApplication
Affected:< 5.7.7

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Determine McAfee Agent version
    Open Windows Control Panel and navigate to Programs and Features or Add or Remove Programs. Locate McAfee Agent in the list and note the version number displayed.
    Affected if The displayed version is below 5.7.7
  2. Locate the MA Smart Installer
    Search the system for the MA Smart Installer executable file used to deploy or update McAfee Agent. This is typically obtained from McAfee download repositories or enterprise distribution systems.
    Affected if The MA Smart Installer is present on the system and its version is below 5.7.7
  3. Verify installer directory access
    Check the permissions on the directory from which the MA Smart Installer will be executed. Right-click the folder, select Properties, then Security, and review which users or groups have Write or Modify permissions.
    Affected if Non-administrative users have Write or Modify permissions to the installer execution directory
  4. Compare version against CVE threshold
    Take the identified version of the MA Smart Installer or McAfee Agent and compare it to the affected range: any version prior to 5.7.7.
    Affected if The installed version is prior to 5.7.7

The environment is affected if the McAfee Agent or MA Smart Installer version is below 5.7.7, enabling DLL hijacking when the installer runs from a directory with weak permissions.

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 5.7.7 or later
Fixed in 5.7.7
Interim mitigation

Upgrade the MA Smart Installer to version 5.7.7 or later which addresses the DLL hijacking vulnerability. As a temporary measure, ensure the installer is run from a controlled directory with restricted write permissions.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

5.7.7

  1. Upgrade the MA Smart Installer for Windows to version 5.7.7 or later

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

Fix this in Agent Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,224.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-2313 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-2313 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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