dbcve.org
Advanced SecurityApplication · Vipre

CVE-2024-5929

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-21
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
VIPRE Advanced Security PMAgent Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of VIPRE Advanced Security. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Patch Management Agent. The issue results from loading a file from an unsecured location. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-22316.

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

The vulnerability exists in VIPRE Advanced Security's Patch Management Agent (PMAgent), which loads files from an unsecured location (uncontrolled search path element). A local attacker with low-privileged code execution can place a malicious file in a location the PMAgent loads from, achieving arbitrary code execution in SYSTEM context through DLL hijacking or similar binary planting techniques.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches for VIPRE Advanced Security when available. In the interim, restrict write permissions on directories in the application's search path and monitor for suspicious files in the Patch Management Agent directory.

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
Advanced SecurityApplication
Affected:= 12.0.1.214

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. Confirm VIPRE Advanced Security installation
    Check for VIPRE Advanced Security in Programs and Features (Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features) or use command: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*VIPRE*Advanced*Security*'} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion
    Affected if VIPRE Advanced Security is not installed or the version is not 12.0.1.214, then the environment is not affected by this specific CVE version.
  2. Verify exact version number
    Locate the installed version of VIPRE Advanced Security and confirm it equals 12.0.1.214 exactly. Use the registry key from the previous step or check: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\Software\VIPRE' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    Affected if The installed version exactly matches 12.0.1.214, indicating the affected version.
  3. Locate Patch Management Agent component
    Search for PMAgent.exe or PatchManagementAgent related files in the VIPRE installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\VIPRE\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\VIPRE\)
    Affected if PMAgent.exe exists in the VIPRE installation directory, confirming the vulnerable component is present.
  4. Check for unsecured search paths
    Review the application search path used by the Patch Management Agent. Use Process Monitor (Sysinternals) to trace file loads by PMAgent.exe, focusing on locations where low-privileged users can write files (user-writable directories in the load path)
    Affected if PMAgent loads DLLs or executables from directories writable by low-privileged users, creating the DLL hijacking condition.
  5. Inspect for suspicious planted files
    Examine directories in the PMAgent load path for unexpected DLLs, executables, or configuration files that do not belong to the official VIPRE installation. Compare file hashes against known VIPRE files if possible
    Affected if Unexpected DLLs or binaries exist in directories that PMAgent loads from, indicating potential exploitation.

The environment is affected only if VIPRE Advanced Security version 12.0.1.214 is installed AND the Patch Management Agent loads files from user-writable directories, allowing a local low-privileged attacker to place malicious files for SYSTEM-level code execution.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches for VIPRE Advanced Security when available. In the interim, restrict write permissions on directories in the application's search path and monitor for suspicious files in the Patch Management Agent directory.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Contact VIPRE support for the fixed release (refer to ZDI-CAN-22316)

  1. Contact VIPRE support or visit success.vipre.com to obtain the security update for version 12.0.1.214
  2. Apply the vendor-supplied patch or upgrade to the fixed release of VIPRE Advanced Security
  3. Verify the Patch Management Agent (PMAgent) executable loads DLLs from secure, controlled paths only
  4. Confirm the fix by checking that the PMAgent service runs with elevated privileges from the correct, secured installation directory

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Advanced Security Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,920
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,072.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-5929 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-5929 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data