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Command InjectionWeakness · CWE-77

CVE-2024-50591

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-08
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
An attacker with local access the to medical office computer can escalate his Windows user privileges to "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" by exploiting a command injection vulnerability in the Elefant Update Service. The command injection can be exploited by communicating with the Elefant Update Service which is running as "SYSTEM" via Windows Named Pipes.The Elefant Software Updater (ESU) consists of two components. An ESU service which runs as "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" and an ESU tray client which communicates with the service to update or repair the installation and is running with user permissions. The communication is implemented using named pipes. A crafted message of type "MessageType.SupportServiceInfos" can be sent to the local ESU service to inject commands, which are then executed as "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM".

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

Local privilege escalation exists in Elefant Software Updater (ESU) where the ESU service running as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM accepts crafted messages via Windows Named Pipes without proper input validation. A specially crafted MessageType.SupportServiceInfos message allows command injection, executing attacker-controlled commands with SYSTEM privileges.

MitigationApply vendor patch from Elefant Software; if unavailable, restrict named pipe access permissions or disable the ESU service until patched. Additionally, limit physical/logical access to systems running this service to trusted administrators only.

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. Identify if Elefant Software Updater is installed
    Open Registry Editor and check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'Elefant' or 'ESU', or check Program Files for Elefant Software folders. Alternatively, run: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Elefant*' -or $_.DisplayName -like '*Software Updater*'}
    Affected if No Elefant Software Updater entry is found in the registry or filesystem.
  2. Check if the ESU service exists
    Run 'sc query ESU' or 'Get-Service -Name ESU' in PowerShell. The service may have a different display name; also search for services containing 'Elefant' using: Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Elefant*' -or $_.Name -like '*Elefant*'}
    Affected if No ESU or Elefant-related service is found on the system.
  3. Verify the service account the ESU service runs as
    Run 'sc qc ESU' or use PowerShell: (Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -Filter "Name='ESU'").StartName. If the service uses a specific name, substitute it accordingly.
    Affected if The service is not running as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM or is not found.
  4. Confirm the service is currently running
    Run 'sc query ESU' and look for STATE: RUNNING, or use PowerShell: (Get-Service -Name ESU).Status
    Affected if The service is stopped, paused, or does not exist.

If Elefant Software Updater is installed, the ESU service exists, and it is running as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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 patch from Elefant Software; if unavailable, restrict named pipe access permissions or disable the ESU service until patched. Additionally, limit physical/logical access to systems running this service to trusted administrators only.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2024-50591 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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