CVE-2024-6233
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 · uneditedCheck Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme 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 Forensic Recorder service. By creating a symbolic link, an attacker can abuse the service to overwrite arbitrary files. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-21677.
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 confidenceA symlink-based local privilege escalation in the Forensic Recorder service of Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security. An attacker with low-privileged code execution can create a symbolic link to abuse the service into overwriting arbitrary files, achieving SYSTEM-level code execution.
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= 4.0.148CVSS 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:3.0/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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Verify ZoneAlarm Extreme Security is installedLook for Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Nextgen in installed programs via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for ZoneAlarmAffected if The product is not present on the system
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Check installed version matches CVELocate the version number of ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Nextgen in the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\CheckPoint\ZoneAlarm\CurrentVersion or in the program's About/Help sectionAffected if Version is exactly 4.0.148
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Identify if Forensic Recorder service existsOpen Services console (services.msc) and look for a service named 'Forensic Recorder' or similar, or query via command: sc query type= service state= all | findstr -i forensicAffected if Forensic Recorder service exists on the system
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Check if Forensic Recorder service is runningIn Services console, check the status of the Forensic Recorder service, or run: sc query ForensicRecorderAffected if The service is running or set to start automatically
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Assess symlink creation exposureCheck directory permissions where the Forensic Recorder service has write access. Look for directories accessible by low-privileged users where they can create symbolic links that the service might followAffected if Low-privileged accounts can create symlinks in directories the service writes to
System is affected only if ZoneAlarm Extreme Security Nextgen version 4.0.148 is installed AND the Forensic Recorder service exists and is accessible to low-privileged users for symlink abuse.
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 dataApply vendor patch when available; until then, consider disabling the Forensic Recorder service if unused or restricting file system permissions for low-privileged accounts to prevent symlink creation in service-accessible directories.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-6233 — 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-2024-6233 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
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