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

CVE-2024-33581

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A DLL hijack vulnerability was reported in Lenovo PC Manager AI intelligent scenario that could allow a local attacker to execute code with elevated privileges.

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

A DLL hijacking vulnerability exists in Lenovo PC Manager AI intelligent scenario where the application loads Dynamic Link Libraries from an attacker-controllable location. A local attacker can place a malicious DLL in the search path, causing it to be loaded and executed with elevated (SYSTEM) privileges.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches when available; alternatively, remove or restrict write access to directories in Lenovo PC Manager's DLL search path to prevent attacker placement of malicious DLLs.

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if Lenovo PC Manager is installed
    Look for Lenovo PC Manager in the installed programs list (Control Panel > Programs and Features) or check for the installation directory typically at C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Lenovo PC Manager or C:\Program Files (x86)\Lenovo\Lenovo PC Manager
    Affected if Lenovo PC Manager is not found on the system, then this CVE does not apply
  2. Determine the installed version of Lenovo PC Manager
    Open the Lenovo PC Manager application and navigate to Settings > About, or right-click the executable in the installation directory and view Properties > Details to see the file version
    Affected if The installed version falls within an affected version range and has not been patched
  3. Verify the AI intelligent scenario feature is present
    Open Lenovo PC Manager and look for AI-related features, scenario modules, or intelligent optimization features typically found in the main interface or under a dedicated AI section
    Affected if The AI intelligent scenario feature exists and is accessible in the application
  4. Identify DLL search paths used by the application
    Use Process Monitor (from Sysinternals) to filter by Lenovo PC Manager processes and observe DLL load operations, checking for paths that are user-writable or world-writable
    Affected if The application loads DLLs from directories with weak permissions that allow a local attacker to place malicious files
  5. Check for unauthorized or unexpected DLLs in application directories
    Inspect the Lenovo PC Manager installation directory and subdirectories for DLL files that were not part of the original installation, especially in folders where the application loads DLLs from
    Affected if Unexpected or foreign DLL files are present in the application's DLL search paths

The system is affected if Lenovo PC Manager with the AI intelligent scenario feature is installed and the application loads DLLs from attacker-writable directories, allowing potential privilege escalation to SYSTEM level.

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 vendor-supplied patches when available; alternatively, remove or restrict write access to directories in Lenovo PC Manager's DLL search path to prevent attacker placement of malicious DLLs.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2024-33581 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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