Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2026-21419

MEDIUM · 6.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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
Dell Display and Peripheral Manager (Windows) versions prior to 2.2 contain an Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following') vulnerability in the Installer and Service. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to Elevation of 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 · high confidence

Dell Display and Peripheral Manager versions prior to 2.2 contain an Improper Link Resolution Before File Access (link following) vulnerability in the installer and service components. A low-privileged local attacker can exploit this by manipulating symbolic links to gain elevated file access privileges, leading to privilege escalation.

MitigationUpdate Dell Display and Peripheral Manager to version 2.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. As a compensating control, restrict write access to directories used by the installer and service to prevent symlink manipulation attacks.

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/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. Verify Dell Display and Peripheral Manager is installed
    Open Programs and Features (or equivalent) and look for 'Dell Display and Peripheral Manager' in the installed software list, or query the system using: Get-WItemProperty 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Dell Display and Peripheral Manager*'}
    Affected if The software appears in the installed programs list
  2. Determine the installed version
    Right-click the entry in Programs and Features and select Properties, or use the PowerShell query above to retrieve the DisplayVersion field
    Affected if The version displayed is lower than 2.2 (for example, 2.1, 2.0, or 1.x)
  3. Identify installer and service component directories
    Check the installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Dell\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\) for subfolders containing installer or service-related executables and configuration files
    Affected if The installer or service executables exist in typical installation paths
  4. Verify write permissions on installer/service directories
    Right-click the installation folders, go to Properties > Security, and review which users or groups have Write or Modify permissions to directories used by the Dell installer and service components
    Affected if Standard or low-privileged users have Write permissions to directories that the Dell installer or service accesses

You are affected if Dell Display and Peripheral Manager is installed with a version lower than 2.2 and the installer/service components are present with potentially exploitable permissions.

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

Update Dell Display and Peripheral Manager to version 2.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. As a compensating control, restrict write access to directories used by the installer and service to prevent symlink manipulation attacks.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2026-21419 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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