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Uncontrolled Search Path (DLL Hijack)Weakness · CWE-427

CVE-2024-22167

HIGH · 7.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
79/100
Remediation priority · High

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
A potential DLL hijacking vulnerability in the SanDisk PrivateAccess application for Windows that could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the system user. This vulnerability is only exploitable locally if an attacker has access to a copy of the user's vault or has already gained access into a user's system. This attack is limited to the system in context and cannot be propagated.

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

This is a DLL hijacking vulnerability in the SanDisk PrivateAccess Windows application where the application loads Dynamic Link Libraries from an insecure path. An attacker with local access—either through access to a user's vault file or by already compromising the user's system—can place a malicious DLL in the loading path, causing arbitrary code execution with system-level privileges.

MitigationApply the vendor patch when available. In the interim, ensure the application runs from trusted directories and verify that no untrusted DLLs can be placed in the application's working directory or search path.

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/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. Confirm SanDisk PrivateAccess is installed
    Open Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check C:\Program Files\SanDisk for a folder named PrivateAccess. Also check C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Programs\ for a PrivateAccess folder.
    Affected if The software is present on the system
  2. Identify the application executable location
    Locate the PrivateAccess.exe file. Common paths include C:\Program Files\SanDisk\PrivateAccess\PrivateAccess.exe or C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Programs\SanDisk PrivateAccess\PrivateAccess.exe. Run 'where PrivateAccess.exe' from an admin command prompt to find all instances.
    Affected if The executable exists in any directory
  3. Check write permissions on the application directory
    Right-click the folder containing PrivateAccess.exe, go to Properties > Security, and verify which users have Write or Modify permissions. Alternatively, run 'icacls "<path-to-app-folder>"' from command prompt.
    Affected if Any unprivileged user or the current user has Write permissions to the application directory
  4. Inspect the DLL search path for writable locations
    Run Process Monitor (procmon) from Sysinternals with a filter for PrivateAccess.exe, then start the application. Look for DLL load events and check if any DLLs are loaded from user-writable directories in the search order.
    Affected if The application loads DLLs from directories where untrusted users can write files
  5. Verify application runs from trusted directory
    Check if the application is installed in a protected system directory (Program Files) rather than a user-writable location like Downloads, Desktop, or user AppData folders.
    Affected if The application executable resides in a user-writable directory or the working directory is writable

You are affected if SanDisk PrivateAccess is installed and its installation directory or DLL search path contains writable locations where an attacker could place a malicious DLL.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor patch when available. In the interim, ensure the application runs from trusted directories and verify that no untrusted DLLs can be placed in the application's working directory or search path.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,000
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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-2024-22167 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
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