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AgentApplication · Acronis

CVE-2023-44209

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Local privilege escalation due to improper soft link handling. The following products are affected: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent (Linux, macOS, Windows) before build 29051, Acronis Cyber Protect 17 (Linux, macOS, Windows) before build 41186.

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 confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent and Acronis Cyber Protect 17 caused by improper symbolic link (soft link) handling. An attacker with local access could exploit this to gain elevated privileges on the system. The vulnerability affects Linux, macOS, and Windows versions prior to build 29051 (Cloud Agent) and build 41186 (Cyber Protect 17).

MitigationUpdate Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent to build 29051 or later, and Acronis Cyber Protect 17 to build 41186 or later. Prioritize patching systems with higher privilege access and validate the update in a test environment before production deployment.

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
AgentApplication
Affected:= c22.02

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. Identify installed Acronis product
    Check if Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent or Acronis Cyber Protect 17 is installed on the system. On Windows, check Programs and Features or run 'wmic product get name,version'. On Linux/macOS, check for acronis_agent, cyber_protect, or similar package names.
    Affected if Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent or Acronis Cyber Protect 17 is installed
  2. Determine Cloud Agent build version
    For Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent, run the product's version check command or inspect the agent version through the management console. The affected version is specifically build c22.02.
    Affected if Build version is c22.02 or any version prior to build 29051
  3. Determine Cyber Protect 17 build version
    For Acronis Cyber Protect 17, run the product's version check command or inspect the agent version through the management console. Check the build number specifically.
    Affected if Build version is prior to build 41186
  4. Verify symbolic link handling exposure
    Confirm the Acronis agent service is running and that local users have access to create symbolic links in service-controlled directories. On Linux/macOS, check permissions on /var/lib/Acronis or equivalent data directories.
    Affected if The agent service is active and low-privilege users can create symbolic links in agent-controlled directories

You are affected if Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent build is c22.02 or earlier than 29051, OR Acronis Cyber Protect 17 build is earlier than 41186, AND the agent service is running with exposed symbolic link handling.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent to build 29051 or later, and Acronis Cyber Protect 17 to build 41186 or later. Prioritize patching systems with higher privilege access and validate the update in a test environment before production deployment.

Recommended fix High confidence

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent build 29051 or later; Acronis Cyber Protect 17 build 41186 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current installed version of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent or Acronis Cyber Protect 17
  2. 2. For Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent: upgrade to build 29051 or later
  3. 3. For Acronis Cyber Protect 17: upgrade to build 41186 or later
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the agent build number
  5. 5. Test that the agent is functioning properly post-upgrade
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply - test in non-production environment first, ensure backup of configuration, and schedule during maintenance window

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

Fix this in Agent Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2023-44209 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