CVE-2024-32857
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 · uneditedDell Peripheral Manager, versions prior to 1.7.6, contain an uncontrolled search path element vulnerability. An attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability through preloading malicious DLL or symbolic link exploitation, leading to arbitrary code execution and escalation of privilege
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 confidenceDell Peripheral Manager versions prior to 1.7.6 contain an uncontrolled search path element vulnerability. The application loads DLLs without specifying full paths, allowing attackers to place malicious DLLs in locations where the application searches for them, or to exploit symbolic links, achieving arbitrary code execution with the application's privileges.
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< 1.7.6CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Dell Peripheral Manager versionOpen Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Dell Peripheral Manager*"} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' in PowerShellAffected if Version displayed is lower than 1.7.6 or the application is installed but version cannot be determined
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Identify DLL search path locationsRun the application with Process Monitor (ProcMon) from Sysinternals, filtering by the Dell Peripheral Manager executable name and Operation 'CreateFile' to observe which directories it searches when loading DLLsAffected if The application loads DLLs from directories writable by standard users or from locations outside the application install directory
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Check for suspicious DLLs in application directoryExamine the Dell Peripheral Manager install directory (typically C:\Program Files\Dell Peripheral Manager\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell Peripheral Manager\) for unexpected or recently created DLL files that do not belong to the applicationAffected if Unexpected DLL files are present, especially with names matching commonly hijacked DLLs (e.g., version.dll, winhttp.dll, crypt32.dll)
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Check for symbolic links in searchable pathsRun 'Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Users" -Recurse -Force | Where-Object {$_.LinkType -eq "SymbolicLink"}' in PowerShell to enumerate symbolic links in user-accessible directories, or use 'dir /AL /S C:\' to list all symbolic links on the systemAffected if Symbolic links exist in directories that the application searches for DLLs, pointing to locations controllable by non-admin users
A system is affected if Dell Peripheral Manager version is below 1.7.6 AND the application loads DLLs from user-writable directories or suspicious symbolic links exist in its DLL search path.
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.
dbcve · scoped1.7.6
Update Dell Peripheral Manager to version 1.7.6 or later, which addresses the uncontrolled search path vulnerability. Prior to deployment, verify no malicious DLLs or symbolic links exist in searchable directories.
1.7.6
- Identify the current version of Dell Peripheral Manager installed on the system
- Navigate to Dell's official support website (dell.com/support)
- Search for Dell Peripheral Manager
- Download the version 1.7.6 installer or the latest available version from Dell's official download page
- Uninstall the current version of Dell Peripheral Manager through Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & features
- Run the downloaded installer for version 1.7.6
- Follow the on-screen installation prompts to complete the upgrade
- Restart the system if prompted by the installer
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-32857 — 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-2024-32857 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