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Qradar WincollectApplication · Ibm

CVE-2023-38736

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.1.7 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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
IBM QRadar WinCollect Agent 10.0 through 10.1.6, when installed to run as ADMIN or SYSTEM, is vulnerable to a local escalation of privilege attack that a normal user could utilize to gain SYSTEM permissions. IBM X-Force ID: 262542.

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

IBM QRadar WinCollect Agent versions 10.0 through 10.1.6 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability when the agent is installed to run with ADMIN or SYSTEM privileges. A local, unprivileged user can exploit this flaw to gain SYSTEM-level permissions on the affected system.

MitigationUpgrade IBM QRadar WinCollect Agent to a version beyond 10.1.6, or implement least-privilege execution by configuring the service to run with limited user rights rather than ADMIN or SYSTEM accounts.

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
Qradar WincollectApplication
Affected:>= 10.0, < 10.1.7

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify WinCollect Agent is installed
    Open Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*WinCollect*"}' in PowerShell to list installed IBM WinCollect versions.
    Affected if WinCollect Agent version 10.0 through 10.1.6 is listed as installed.
  2. Check the installed version number
    Run 'WinCollect.exe version' from the installation directory (default: C:\Program Files\IBM\WinCollect\bin\), or check the program properties in Programs and Features.
    Affected if The version shown is 10.0.x through 10.1.6 (any build within this range).
  3. Identify the WinCollect service account
    Open Services (services.msc), locate the 'WinCollect' service, right-click and select Properties, then check the 'Log On' tab to see which account the service runs under.
    Affected if The service is configured to run as "Local System account" or any user with Administrator-level privileges.
  4. Confirm service executable permissions
    Right-click the WinCollect.exe file in the installation bin folder, go to Properties > Security, and examine the permissions granted to non-admin users.
    Affected if Non-privileged users have write or modify permissions to the WinCollect service executable or its configuration files.

A user is affected if WinCollect Agent version 10.0 through 10.1.6 is installed AND the service runs with ADMIN or SYSTEM privileges, allowing a local unprivileged attacker to modify service files and escalate to SYSTEM-level access.

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 10.1.7 or later
Fixed in 10.1.7
Interim mitigation

Upgrade IBM QRadar WinCollect Agent to a version beyond 10.1.6, or implement least-privilege execution by configuring the service to run with limited user rights rather than ADMIN or SYSTEM accounts.

Recommended fix High confidence

10.1.7 or later

  1. Obtain IBM QRadar WinCollect version 10.1.7 or later from IBM Fix Central or your IBM representative
  2. Back up the existing WinCollect agent configuration
  3. Stop the WinCollect service
  4. Uninstall the current WinCollect agent (versions 10.0 through 10.1.6)
  5. Install the new WinCollect version 10.1.7 or later
  6. Restore the backed-up configuration if needed
  7. Start the WinCollect service and verify it is running correctly
Caveat Standard patching best practices apply - test in non-production environment first

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

Fix this in Qradar Wincollect Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

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-2023-38736 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