CVE-2023-26278
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 · uneditedIBM QRadar WinCollect Agent 10.0 through 10.1.3 could allow a local authenticated attacker to gain elevated privileges on the system. IBM X-Force ID: 248158.
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 confidenceIBM QRadar WinCollect Agent versions 10.0 through 10.1.3 contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows a local authenticated attacker to gain elevated (administrator/root) privileges on the affected system. The vulnerability stems from improper privilege handling within the WinCollect Agent service.
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>= 10.0, <= 10.1.3CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm WinCollect Agent installationCheck if WinCollect Agent is installed by looking for the service: Run 'sc query WinCollect' on Windows or check for /opt/qradar/wincollect/ directory on Linux. Also check Programs and Features on Windows.Affected if WinCollect Agent is not installed on the system.
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Identify installed WinCollect versionOn Windows, check the version via 'sc qc WinCollect' and look at the BINARY_PATH_NAME, or check the version in the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\WinCollect or in the installation directory. On Linux, run 'rpm -q wincollect' or check the version file in the installation directory.Affected if The installed version falls within the range 10.0 to 10.1.3 (inclusive).
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Verify WinCollect service is runningConfirm the WinCollect Agent service is currently running by executing 'sc query WinCollect' (Windows) or 'systemctl status wincollect' (Linux). The service must be active for the privilege escalation to be exploitable.Affected if The WinCollect service is running and the version is between 10.0 and 10.1.3.
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Confirm local authenticated access existsIdentify if there are any non-administrator local user accounts on the system. Any local authenticated user with the ability to interact with the WinCollect service or its files could potentially exploit this vulnerability.Affected if There are local user accounts besides the administrator on the system where WinCollect Agent is running a vulnerable version.
You are affected if WinCollect Agent version 10.0 through 10.1.3 is installed and running on your system, as this creates the condition where a local authenticated user could exploit improper privilege handling to gain elevated privileges.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade IBM QRadar WinCollect Agent to version 10.1.4 or later, which contains the fix for this vulnerability. Apply the appropriate IBM patch (refer to IBM security bulletin) to eliminate the privilege escalation vector.
- Consultation2.0 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-2023-26278 — 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-2023-26278 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
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