dbcve.org
Total ProtectionApplication · Mcafee

CVE-2022-43751

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-11-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 16.0.49 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
McAfee Total Protection prior to version 16.0.49 contains an uncontrolled search path element vulnerability due to the use of a variable pointing to a subdirectory that may be controllable by an unprivileged user. This may have allowed the unprivileged user to execute arbitrary code with system privileges.

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

McAfee Total Protection prior to version 16.0.49 contains an uncontrolled search path element vulnerability where the application uses a variable pointing to a subdirectory that can be controlled by an unprivileged user. This allows privilege escalation, enabling a low-privileged attacker to execute arbitrary code with system-level privileges.

MitigationUpgrade McAfee Total Protection to version 16.0.49 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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
Total ProtectionApplication
Affected:< 16.0.49

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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. Verify McAfee Total Protection is installed
    Check for McAfee Total Protection in the Windows installed programs list via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run: Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -like '*McAfee*Total*Protection*'}
    Affected if McAfee Total Protection appears in the installed programs list
  2. Determine the installed version
    Open the McAfee Total Protection interface and navigate to About/Account, or check the registry key: HKLM\SOFTWARE\McAfee\Inc. (or check the version in Programs and Features)
    Affected if The displayed version is lower than 16.0.49 (e.g., 16.0.48, 16.0.x, or any version prior to 16.0.49)
  3. Identify directories McAfee Total Protection accesses at runtime
    Monitor the application using Process Monitor (ProcMon) while McAfee Total Protection is running, filtering by the mctray.exe or mcui32.exe process name to see which paths the application reads from or executes from
    Affected if Any path accessed by the application points to a directory that non-admin users can write to (such as user profile folders, temp directories, or writable network shares)
  4. Check for writable subdirectories in the McAfee installation folder
    Inspect the McAfee installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\McAfee\ or C:\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee\) and subdirectories for permissions that allow standard users to write files. Use: icacls 'C:\Program Files\McAfee\' /t
    Affected if Any subdirectory within the McAfee installation path grants write or modify permissions to Users orAuthenticated Users groups

You are affected if McAfee Total Protection is installed with a version prior to 16.0.49 AND any application directory or runtime path is writable by low-privileged users, as this enables the uncontrolled search path exploitation.

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 16.0.49 or later
Fixed in 16.0.49
Interim mitigation

Upgrade McAfee Total Protection to version 16.0.49 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

McAfee Total Protection version 16.0.49 or later

  1. Verify the current installed version of McAfee Total Protection on the affected system
  2. Ensure you have administrator privileges on the system before attempting the upgrade
  3. Download McAfee Total Protection version 16.0.49 or later from the official McAfee download center (mcafee.com) or your organization's software distribution point
  4. Close any running instances of McAfee Total Protection or related McAfee processes
  5. Run the installer for the new version (16.0.49 or later) with administrative privileges
  6. Follow the on-screen installation prompts to complete the upgrade
  7. Restart the system if prompted by the installer
  8. After installation, verify that the new version (16.0.49 or later) is installed by checking the product version in About or Add/Remove Programs
Caveat Review McAfee release notes for any changes to functionality or compatibility requirements before upgrading

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

Fix this in Total Protection Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2022-43751 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