# CVE-2015-2789: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by placing a malicious program in the system drive due to an unquoted service path in Foxit Reader.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Mar 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-pfjw-vh8j-x52x

## What is CVE-2015-2789?

CVE-2015-2789 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Foxitsoftware Foxit Reader, published on 30 Mar 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Unquoted Windows search path vulnerability in the Foxit Cloud Safe Update Service in the Cloud plugin in Foxit Reader 6.1 through 7.0.6.1126 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse program in the %SYSTEMDRIVE% folder.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-2789?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Foxitsoftware Foxit Reader.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-2789?

No fix has been published for CVE-2015-2789 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2015-2789 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-2789 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Foxit Reader 7.0.6.1126 - Unquoted Service Path Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Foxitsoftware Foxit Reader

- [CVE-2021-33793](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33793/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-38568](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38568/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-38572](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38572/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-38573](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38573/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-38574](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38574/): SQL injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-2789 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-2789 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Foxitsoftware Foxit Reader, published on 30 Mar 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-2789 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Foxitsoftware Foxit Reader. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2789/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2789/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-2789
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-2789
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-2789

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2789/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.