CVE-2023-24578
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 · uneditedMcAfee Total Protection prior to 16.0.49 allows attackers to elevate user privileges due to DLL sideloading. This could enable a user with lower privileges to execute unauthorized tasks.
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 confidenceMcAfee Total Protection versions prior to 16.0.49 are vulnerable to DLL sideloading, which allows an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a location where the application loads it, enabling privilege elevation from a lower-privileged user account.
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< 16.0.49CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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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Confirm McAfee Total Protection is installedCheck the system for McAfee Total Protection installation using system inventory tools, the Windows Programs and Features list, or by searching for McAfee Total Protection executables in Program Files directoriesAffected if McAfee Total Protection is present on the system
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Locate the installed versionFind the installed version by right-clicking the McAfee Total Protection executable in Program Files, checking the application properties, or using 'wmic product get name,version' command in Windows Command PromptAffected if The version cannot be determined or is displayed as less than 16.0.49
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Compare version against affected rangeCompare your identified version number to the vulnerable range: any version prior to 16.0.49 is affectedAffected if Installed version is below 16.0.49 (for example, 16.0.40, 16.0.30, etc.)
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Verify DLL loading contextInspect the McAfee Total Protection installation directory for executables that load DLLs from locations writable by lower-privileged users, which is required for the sideloading to be exploitableAffected if The application loads DLLs from user-writable directories and runs with elevated privileges
The system is affected if McAfee Total Protection is installed with a version number lower than 16.0.49, as this version range contains the DLL sideloading vulnerability that enables privilege elevation.
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 · scoped16.0.49
Update McAfee Total Protection to version 16.0.49 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
16.0.49
- Open McAfee Total Protection on the affected system
- Check the current version by navigating to the application settings or about section
- Ensure you have an active McAfee subscription/license for the upgrade
- Download McAfee Total Protection version 16.0.49 or later from the official McAfee website (www.mcafee.com)
- Run the installer as an administrator
- Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation
- Restart the system when prompted
- Verify the installed version is 16.0.49 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-24578 — 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-2023-24578 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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- 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