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Incorrect Privilege AssignmentWeakness · CWE-266

CVE-2023-7270

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
55/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
An issue was discovered in SoftMaker Office 2024 / NX before revision 1214 and SoftMaker FreeOffice 2014 before revision 1215. FreeOffice 2021 is also affected, but won't be fixed. The SoftMaker Office and FreeOffice MSI installer files were found to produce a visible conhost.exe window running as the SYSTEM user when using the repair function of msiexec.exe. This allows a local, low-privileged attacker to use a chain of actions, to open a fully functional cmd.exe with the privileges of the SYSTEM user.

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

The MSI installer for SoftMaker Office and FreeOffice spawns a visible conhost.exe process running as the SYSTEM user when the msiexec.exe repair function is triggered. This allows a local low-privileged attacker to interact with this SYSTEM-level process and spawn a fully functional cmd.exe with elevated privileges, achieving local privilege escalation.

MitigationApply vendor patches (revision 1214 for Office 2024/NX, revision 1215 for FreeOffice 2014). Note that FreeOffice 2021 will not receive a fix. As a workaround, restrict access to msiexec.exe repair operations or monitor for suspicious conhost.exe processes spawned during installer repairs.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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 if SoftMaker software is installed
    Check the system for SoftMaker Office or FreeOffice installations by examining Program Files directories (typically C:\Program Files\SoftMaker Office or C:\Program Files (x86)\SoftMaker Office) or reviewing the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for SoftMaker entries
    Affected if SoftMaker Office or FreeOffice is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed version and revision
    Locate the installed version information - check the program's About dialog, the MSI installer properties, or the registry uninstall entry for a revision/build number (noting that vulnerable versions are below revision 1214 for Office 2024/NX and below revision 1215 for FreeOffice 2014; FreeOffice 2021 has no fix)
    Affected if The installed revision number is below the fixed revisions and the product is FreeOffice 2014 or Office 2024/NX, or if it is FreeOffice 2021 (which will not be fixed)
  3. Monitor for conhost.exe spawned during repair operations
    Use Process Monitor or Task Manager to observe processes when msiexec.exe repair is triggered for the SoftMaker product (Windows Installer repair can be initiated via Control Panel > Programs > Repair, or by running 'msiexec.exe /f {product-code}' from command line)
    Affected if A conhost.exe process spawns as the SYSTEM user during an MSI repair operation on the affected software
  4. Detect elevated cmd.exe spawned from conhost.exe
    Review running processes for any cmd.exe instances with parent process conhost.exe running under SYSTEM privileges, which would indicate successful exploitation
    Affected if A cmd.exe process is running as SYSTEM with conhost.exe as its parent process, particularly when no legitimate SoftMaker repair operation is in progress

A user is affected if SoftMaker Office 2024/NX (below revision 1214) or FreeOffice 2014 (below revision 1215) is installed and a SYSTEM-level conhost.exe process appears during MSI repair, or if FreeOffice 2021 is installed (unfixable) and such behavior is observed.

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

Apply vendor patches (revision 1214 for Office 2024/NX, revision 1215 for FreeOffice 2014). Note that FreeOffice 2021 will not receive a fix. As a workaround, restrict access to msiexec.exe repair operations or monitor for suspicious conhost.exe processes spawned during installer repairs.

Recommended fix High confidence

SoftMaker Office 2024 / NX (revision 1214 or later) or SoftMaker FreeOffice 2014 (revision 1215 or later)

  1. Download SoftMaker Office 2024/NX revision 1214 or later from the official SoftMaker website
  2. If currently installed, uninstall the vulnerable version of SoftMaker Office or FreeOffice
  3. Install the updated version using the new MSI installer
  4. Verify the installation completed successfully
  5. Test the MSI repair function (msiexec.exe /f) to confirm the vulnerability is remediated - no conhost.exe should appear running as SYSTEM
Caveat FreeOffice 2021 will not receive a fix for this vulnerability; users should migrate to a supported version

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

Have this fixed 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
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2023-7270 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