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AgentApplication · Acronis

CVE-2023-45248

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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 DLL hijacking vulnerability. The following products are affected: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent (Windows) before build 36497, Acronis Cyber Protect 16 (Windows) before build 37391.

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 Cyber Protect 16 for Windows due to DLL hijacking. An attacker with local access could exploit improper DLL loading to execute malicious code with elevated privileges.

MitigationUpdate Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent to build 36497 or later, and Acronis Cyber Protect 16 to build 37391 or later. Alternatively, ensure the application uses secure DLL search order paths and verify no malicious DLLs exist in writable directories within the search path.

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:< c23.10

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 Acronis agent is installed
    Check Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Acronis\MMS or look for Acronis installation folders in Program Files (e.g., C:\Program Files\Acronis\). Alternatively, open Programs and Features in Control Panel and search for Acronis Cyber Protect or Acronis Agent.
    Affected if Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent or Cyber Protect 16 for Windows is present on the system
  2. Identify installed version
    Open registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Acronis\MMS\Version or check the agent's About/Properties dialog in the Acronis management console. Note the full version string and build number.
    Affected if Version string shows a build earlier than c23.10, or build number below 36497 (Cloud Agent) or 37391 (Cyber Protect 16)
  3. Confirm DLL hijacking exposure
    Examine the Acronis agent service executable (commonly at C:\Program Files\Acronis\Agent\bin\*.exe) and check if the directory is writable by non-privileged users. Also review the system DLL search path order (can be checked via Process Monitor or by inspecting environment variables PATH).
    Affected if Any writable directory exists within the DLL search path before the Windows system directories, allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL
  4. Check service execution context
    Open Services console (services.msc), locate the Acronis agent service, right-click and select Properties. Note whether it runs under SYSTEM or a privileged account.
    Affected if The Acronis service runs with elevated privileges (SYSTEM, Administrator, or a service account with high privileges)

The system is affected if Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent or Cyber Protect 16 for Windows is installed with version c23.10 or earlier (build below 36497/37391 respectively), and the service runs with elevated privileges in an environment where non-privileged users can write to directories in the DLL search path.

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 36497 or later, and Acronis Cyber Protect 16 to build 37391 or later. Alternatively, ensure the application uses secure DLL search order paths and verify no malicious DLLs exist in writable directories within the search path.

Recommended fix High confidence

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent: build 36497 or later; Acronis Cyber Protect 16: build 37391 or later

  1. Identify the installed Acronis product: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent or Acronis Cyber Protect 16
  2. Check the current build version of the installed Acronis agent
  3. If using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent (Windows), upgrade to build 36497 or later
  4. If using Acronis Cyber Protect 16 (Windows), upgrade to build 37391 or later
  5. Verify the upgrade was successful by confirming the new build number

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

Fix this in Agent Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,440
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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-2023-45248 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
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