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Cyber ProtectApplication · Acronis

CVE-2026-28721

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2026-03-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 17.0.41186 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
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
Local privilege escalation due to improper soft link handling. The following products are affected: Acronis Cyber Protect 17 (Windows) before build 41186.

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

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Acronis Cyber Protect 17 on Windows. The issue stems from improper soft link (symbolic link) handling, allowing a local authenticated attacker to manipulate symbolic links to gain elevated privileges on the affected system.

MitigationUpdate Acronis Cyber Protect 17 to build 41186 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict local user permissions and monitor file system activities involving the Acronis installation 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
Cyber ProtectApplication
Affected:< 17.0.41186

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 Acronis Cyber Protect 17 installation
    Open Windows Control Panel, go to Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' to list installed software. Look for 'Acronis Cyber Protect' or 'Acronis Cyber Protect 17' in the installed programs list.
    Affected if Acronis Cyber Protect 17 appears in installed programs and the version column shows a build number lower than 41186.
  2. Identify installed build version
    In Programs and Features, locate Acronis Cyber Protect 17 and note the version/build number shown in the Version column. Alternatively, right-click the Acronis shortcut, select Properties, and check the Details tab for product version information.
    Affected if The build version displayed is below 41186 (for example, 17.0.xxxxx where xxxxx is less than 41186).
  3. Verify product version against vulnerable range
    Compare the identified build number to the affected version range: any build lower than 17.0.41186 is vulnerable. The format is typically '17.0.xxxxx' where xxxxx represents the build number.
    Affected if The installed build number is less than 41186, indicating the environment is running a vulnerable version of Acronis Cyber Protect 17.
  4. Check service account context
    Open Services (services.msc), locate the Acronis service (such as 'Acronis Cyber Protect Service'), right-click and select Properties. Note the account listed under 'Log On' to understand the privilege level the service runs with.
    Affected if The Acronis service runs under a high-privilege account (such as SYSTEM or LocalSystem) while the installed version is below 41186, making the symbolic link privilege escalation applicable.

A system is affected if Acronis Cyber Protect 17 is installed with a build version lower than 41186, as this version range contains the improper symbolic link handling flaw enabling local privilege escalation.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 17.0.41186 or later
Fixed in 17.0.41186
Interim mitigation

Update Acronis Cyber Protect 17 to build 41186 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict local user permissions and monitor file system activities involving the Acronis installation directory.

Recommended fix High confidence

Cyber Protect 17 build 41186 or later (Windows)

  1. 1. Back up the current Acronis Cyber Protect configuration and any critical data
  2. 2. Download Cyber Protect 17 build 41186 or later from the official Acronis portal or download center at security-advisory.acronis.com
  3. 3. Verify the integrity of the downloaded installer using official checksums if provided
  4. 4. Stop all Acronis Cyber Protect services before upgrading
  5. 5. Run the installer with appropriate administrative privileges
  6. 6. Follow the on-screen upgrade wizard instructions
  7. 7. After installation, verify the build version is 41186 or higher in the product UI or via command line
  8. 8. Restart Acronis Cyber Protect services and confirm the product is functioning correctly
Caveat Standard upgrade risk - test in non-production environment first; review Acronis release notes for any configuration or feature changes in this build

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

Fix this in Cyber Protect Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

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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-2026-28721 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data