# CVE-2018-6674: Privilege escalation vulnerability in McAfee VSE when McTray run with elevated privileges

> Local users can escalate privileges by spawning processes if McTray.exe is configured to run with elevated privileges.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 May 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j2w2-mjcv-7rfm

## What is CVE-2018-6674?

CVE-2018-6674 is a medium-severity vulnerability in McAfee, LLC VirusScan Enterprise (VSE), published on 25 May 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Privilege Escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Windows client (McTray.exe) in McAfee VirusScan Enterprise (VSE) 8.8 prior to Patch 13 allows local users to spawn unrelated processes with elevated privileges via the system administrator granting McTray.exe elevated privileges (by default it runs with the current user's privileges).

Weakness: CWE-311 (Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data), CWE-274 (Improper Handling of Insufficient Privileges), CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-6674?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mcafee Virusscan Enterprise.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-6674?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-6674 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-6674 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-6674 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in McAfee, LLC VirusScan Enterprise (VSE)

- [CVE-2009-5118](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-5118/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2020-7266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7266/): Privilege Escalation vulnerability through symbolic links in VSE for Windows (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-7267](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7267/): Privilege Escalation vulnerability through symbolic links in VSEL (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-8023](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8023/): Auth bypass in VirusScan Enterprise Linux (VSEL) (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2016-8024](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8024/): Other in VirusScan Enterprise Linux (VSEL) (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-6674 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-6674 is a medium-severity vulnerability in McAfee, LLC VirusScan Enterprise (VSE), published on 25 May 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-6674 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: McAfee, LLC VirusScan Enterprise (VSE). 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-2018-6674/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6674/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-6674
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-6674
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-6674

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6674/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.