CVE-2022-4326
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 · uneditedImproper preservation of permissions vulnerability in Trellix Endpoint Agent (xAgent) prior to V35.31.22 on Windows allows a local user with administrator privileges to bypass the product protection to uninstall the agent via incorrectly applied permissions in the removal protection functionality.
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 confidenceA local administrator can bypass the uninstall protection in Trellix xAgent on Windows due to incorrectly applied permissions in the removal protection functionality. This allows unauthorized removal of the endpoint security agent, compromising system protection.
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< 35.31.22CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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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Identify installed Trellix Endpoint Security versionOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | DisplayName, DisplayVersion' in PowerShell to list installed software and locate Trellix Endpoint Security or xAgentAffected if The displayed version number is lower than 35.31.22
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Check Trellix agent service version via command lineOpen an elevated command prompt and run 'sc query' to list services, then run 'sc qc <service_name>' for the Trellix xAgent service (typically named 'McAfee Endpoint Security' or similar), or check the executable version in the Trellix installation directoryAffected if The service version or executable version shown is prior to 35.31.22
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Verify uninstall protection configuration statusOpen Trellix Endpoint Security console or ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) console to view agent policy settings, specifically looking for 'Uninstall Protection' or 'Removal Protection' settings under endpoint protection policiesAffected if Uninstall protection is enabled and the agent version is below 35.31.22, making the permission bypass applicable
You are affected if the installed Trellix Endpoint Security or xAgent version is lower than 35.31.22 and uninstall protection is enabled, as the permission bypass vulnerability can be exploited.
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 · scoped35.31.22
Upgrade Trellix Endpoint Agent (xAgent) to version V35.31.22 or later to resolve the improper permission handling in the uninstall protection feature.
V35.31.22
- Identify all Windows systems with Trellix Endpoint Agent (xAgent) installed
- Check the current version of xAgent on each system (version should be < 35.31.22 to be vulnerable)
- Upgrade Trellix Endpoint Agent (xAgent) to version 35.31.22 or later
- Verify the upgrade was successful by confirming the installed version is 35.31.22 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-4326 — 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-2022-4326 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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