CVE-2023-32175
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 · uneditedVIPRE Antivirus Plus Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of VIPRE Antivirus Plus. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Anti Malware Service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to create arbitrary files. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-18899.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in VIPRE Antivirus Plus Anti Malware Service. The service suffers from a symbolic link following flaw that allows an attacker to create arbitrary files on the system by leveraging symlink abuse. Since the service runs as SYSTEM, an attacker with low-privileged code execution can escalate to SYSTEM-level privileges by tricking the service into creating malicious executable files via symbolic links.
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< 12.0.1.203CVSS 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:3.0/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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Check if VIPRE Antivirus is installedLook for VIPRE Antivirus in Add/Remove Programs or check for installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Vipre or C:\Program Files (x86)\Vipre)Affected if VIPRE Antivirus Plus is not found on the system, the product is not affected
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Identify installed VIPRE versionCheck the installed version by reviewing registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{ProductID}\DisplayVersion or look in the VIPRE installation directory for version informationAffected if Installed version is lower than 12.0.1.203 (e.g., 12.0.0.x, 11.x, etc.)
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Locate the Anti Malware ServiceOpen Services console (services.msc) and look for VIPRE Anti Malware service (commonly named SBAMSvc or VipreAntiMalwareService)Affected if The Anti Malware Service exists and is running on the system
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Check service executable permissionsRight-click the service executable (found in service properties) and review Permissions tab. Verify which users have Write or Full Control permissions on the service directoryAffected if Low-privileged users have Write permissions to directories containing the Anti Malware Service executable or its working directories
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Monitor for symlink creation in service directoriesUse Sysinternals Process Monitor or File Explorer to watch for .lnk or symbolic link files being created in VIPRE temp or working directories (check service properties for 'Path to executable' and working directory)Affected if Low-privileged users can create symbolic links in directories used by the Anti Malware Service
The system is affected if VIPRE Antivirus Plus is installed with a version lower than 12.0.1.203 AND the Anti Malware Service is running with permissive file permissions that allow low-privileged users to create symbolic links in service directories.
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 · scoped12.0.1.203
Apply the vendor patch for CVE-2023-32175 when available. As an interim measure, restrict write access to directories used by the Anti Malware Service and monitor for suspicious symbolic link creation. The vulnerability requires vendor code-level remediation.
VIPRE Antivirus Plus version 12.0.1.203
- Upgrade VIPRE Antivirus Plus to version 12.0.1.203 or later to resolve the symlink privilege escalation vulnerability
- Verify the installation by checking the installed version in the application or program settings
- Ensure the upgrade is tested in a non-production environment before deploying to production systems
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-32175 — 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-2023-32175 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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