CVE-2024-28589
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Axigen Mail Server for Windows versions 10.5.18 and before, allows local low-privileged attackers to execute arbitrary code and escalate privileges via insecure DLL loading from a world-writable directory during service initialization.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Axigen Mail Server for Windows (versions 10.5.18 and before). The application loads DLLs from a world-writable directory during service initialization, allowing a low-privileged local attacker to place a malicious DLL that gets loaded with elevated (service) privileges, achieving arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.
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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Axigen Mail Server installationCheck if Axigen Mail Server is installed on the Windows system. Look in Program Files for the Axigen installation directory, or check Windows Services for the Axigen service.Affected if Axigen Mail Server is installed and running as a Windows service
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Check installed versionIdentify the installed version of Axigen Mail Server. This can typically be done via the application GUI, by checking the executable properties, or using the Windows Programs and Features list.Affected if The installed version is 10.5.18 or any earlier version
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Identify DLL loading directoryMonitor or inspect the DLL search path configuration for the Axigen service. This may require reviewing the service's startup configuration, the application documentation, or using process monitoring tools to observe DLL loading behavior during service startup.Affected if The service loads DLLs from a directory that is writable by low-privileged users
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Verify directory permissionsExamine the permissions on the identified DLL loading directory. Check if the directory grants write access to non-admin users or the Users group.Affected if The directory from which Axigen loads DLLs is world-writable or writable by unprivileged users
A user is affected if Axigen Mail Server version 10.5.18 or earlier is installed and the application loads DLLs from a directory writable by low-privileged users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataRemediate by modifying the application's DLL loading mechanism to use absolute paths and only load DLLs from secure, non-writable directories (e.g., the application installation directory). Alternatively, restrict permissions on the vulnerable directory to prevent unprivileged write access.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-28589 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-28589 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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