Plugfree NetworkApplication · Fujitsu

CVE-2022-27089

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.3.0.3 or later.
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
In Fujitsu PlugFree Network <= 7.3.0.3, an Unquoted service path in PFNService.exe software allows a local attacker to potentially escalate privileges to system level.

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

Fujitsu PlugFree Network <= 7.3.0.3 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability in PFNService.exe. When a Windows service path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotes, Windows attempts to execute each word in the path as a potential executable. A local authenticated attacker with write access to an intermediate directory in the path can place a malicious executable that gets invoked with SYSTEM privileges when the service starts.

MitigationQuote the executable path in the service configuration and remove or restrict write permissions on all directories in the service path to prevent unauthorized executable placement.

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
Plugfree NetworkApplication
Affected:<= 7.3.0.3

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. Check if Fujitsu PlugFree Network is installed
    Look for the installation directory in Program Files or Program Files (x86), typically under 'Fujitsu' or check the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'PlugFree Network' or similar
    Affected if The software is not installed on the system
  2. Verify the PFNService.exe service exists
    Open Services console (services.msc) and look for a service named 'PlugFree Network' or 'PFNService', or run 'sc queryex type= service state= all' and search for PFN or PlugFree
    Affected if The PFNService.exe service is not found on the system
  3. Examine the service binary path for unquoted spaces
    Run 'sc qc <service_name>' (replace <service_name> with the actual service name found in step 2) and inspect the BINARY_PATH_NAME field. Check if the path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotation marks
    Affected if The BINARY_PATH_NAME contains spaces and is NOT wrapped in double quotes (e.g., C:\Program Files\Fujitsu\PFN\PFNService.exe is vulnerable; "C:\Program Files\Fujitsu\PFN\PFNService.exe" is not)
  4. Identify writable directories in the service path
    For each directory in the unquoted path (e.g., C:\Program, C:\Program Files, C:\Program Files\Fujitsu), run 'icacls <directory>' to check permissions. Look for 'BUILTIN\Users:(W)' or similar write-enabled entries for non-admin users
    Affected if Any intermediate directory in the path (excluding the final executable directory) grants write permissions to standard users

The system is affected if Fujitsu PlugFree Network is installed with the PFNService.exe service running under an unquoted path containing spaces, and an intermediate directory in that path is writable by standard users.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.3.0.3
Interim mitigation

Quote the executable path in the service configuration and remove or restrict write permissions on all directories in the service path to prevent unauthorized executable placement.

Fix this in Plugfree Network Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

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 locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-27089 — 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-2022-27089 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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