# CVE-2021-23879: Privilege escalation in Endpoint Product Removal Tool

> Local administrators can execute arbitrary code with higher privileges via an unquoted service path in the McAfee EPR Tool.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/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:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Mar 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4p7j-g7mm-h6h2

## What is CVE-2021-23879?

CVE-2021-23879 is a medium-severity vulnerability in McAfee, LLC Endpoint Product Removal Tool, published on 15 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Unquoted service path vulnerability in McAfee Endpoint Product Removal (EPR) Tool prior to 21.2 allows local administrators to execute arbitrary code, with higher-level privileges, via execution from a compromised folder. The tool did not enforce and protect the execution path. Local admin privileges are required to place the files in the required location.

Weakness: CWE-428 (Unquoted Search Path or Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-23879?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mcafee Endpoint Product Removal Tool.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-23879?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-23879 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-23879 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-23879 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-23879 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-23879 is a medium-severity vulnerability in McAfee, LLC Endpoint Product Removal Tool, published on 15 Mar 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-2021-23879 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: McAfee, LLC Endpoint Product Removal Tool. 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-2021-23879/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23879/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-23879
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-23879
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-23879

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23879/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.