# CVE-2021-20172: Privilege escalation in Netgear Genie Installer for macOS

> A local attacker can overwrite insecurely handled files during installation to escalate privileges to root on macOS systems.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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 Dec 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9hj7-9vfv-fxf3

## What is CVE-2021-20172?

CVE-2021-20172 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netgear Genie Installer for macOS, published on 30 Dec 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

All known versions of the Netgear Genie Installer for macOS contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. The installer of the macOS version of Netgear Genie handles certain files in an insecure way. A malicious actor who has local access to the endpoint on which the software is going to be installed may overwrite certain files to obtain privilege escalation to root.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-20172?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Netgear Genie Installer.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-20172?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-20172 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-20172 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20172 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-20172 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-20172 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netgear Genie Installer for macOS, published on 30 Dec 2021. 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-2021-20172 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Netgear Genie Installer for macOS. 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-2021-20172/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20172/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-20172
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-20172
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-20172

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20172/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.