dbcve.org
Management AgentApplication · Symantec

CVE-2022-25623

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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
The Symantec Management Agent is susceptible to a privilege escalation vulnerability. A low privilege local account can be elevated to the SYSTEM level through registry manipulations.

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

Symantec Management Agent contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability where a low-privileged local user can manipulate registry keys to gain SYSTEM-level privileges. The attacker leverages improper registry permission settings to escalate from a standard user account to the highest local privilege level.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided patch or update to Symantec Management Agent that addresses the registry permission vulnerability, and verify that only authorized administrators have write access to the affected registry keys.

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
Management AgentApplication
Affected:= 8.5= 8.6

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
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 checks

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

  1. Verify Symantec Management Agent is installed
    Open Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check Add/Remove Programs, look for 'Symantec Management Agent' or check the installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Symantec\Symantec Management Agent)
    Affected if The product is not installed on the system - not affected
  2. Check installed version number
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Management Agent\Agent\ or check version via 'wmic product get name,version' for Symantec Management Agent
    Affected if Version equals 8.5 or 8.6 - system is running a vulnerable version
  3. Identify registry keys with weak permissions
    Use regedit to check permissions on registry keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\ (or the specific agent keys identified by your security team). Right-click key > Permissions > verify which users have Write or Full Control access.
    Affected if Standard user accounts or non-admin users have Write or Full Control permissions on Symantec-related registry keys - vulnerable configuration present
  4. Confirm low-privileged user can modify agent registry keys
    As a non-administrator test account, attempt to create or modify a registry value under the Symantec Management Agent registry path using reg add command
    Affected if Operation succeeds without admin elevation - privilege escalation path is exploitable

System is affected if Symantec Management Agent version 8.5 or 8.6 is installed AND standard users have write access to the vulnerable registry keys.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided patch or update to Symantec Management Agent that addresses the registry permission vulnerability, and verify that only authorized administrators have write access to the affected registry keys.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Version 8.7 or later (contact Broadcom Support for exact fixed release)

  1. Verify the current installed version of Symantec Management Agent by checking Add/Remove Programs or the agent's version information
  2. Confirm the installation was performed with elevated (administrator) privileges
  3. Obtain the latest version of Symantec Management Agent from Broadcom Support (support.broadcom.com) - look for version 8.7 or later which contains the fix for CVE-2022-25623
  4. Back up the current agent configuration and any custom policies
  5. Uninstall the current Management Agent version 8.5 or 8.6
  6. Install the updated Management Agent (version 8.7 or newer)
  7. Verify the installation completed successfully and the agent is communicating with the management server
  8. Confirm the registry keys related to the agent have appropriate restricted permissions to prevent low-privilege manipulation
Caveat Review release notes for any policy or configuration changes between 8.5/8.6 and the target version; test in non-production environment first

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

Fix this in Management Agent Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2022-25623 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