# CVE-2021-23887: Privilege escalation in McAfee DLP Endpoint for Windows

> A local low-privileged attacker can escalate privileges by manipulating memory in monitored applications via the hdlphook driver in McAfee DLP Endpoint.

- **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:** 15 Apr 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gjh7-83g9-wq47

## What is CVE-2021-23887?

CVE-2021-23887 is a high-severity vulnerability in McAfee,LLC McAfee Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Endpoint for Windows, published on 15 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Privilege Escalation vulnerability in McAfee Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Endpoint for Windows prior to 11.6.100 allows a local, low privileged, attacker to write to arbitrary controlled kernel addresses. This is achieved by launching applications, suspending them, modifying the memory and restarting them when they are monitored by McAfee DLP through the hdlphook driver.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-23887?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mcafee Data Loss Prevention Endpoint.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-23887?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-23887 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-23887 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-23887 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in McAfee,LLC McAfee Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Endpoint for Windows

- [CVE-2021-31848](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31848/): Data Loss Prevention (DLP) ePO extension - Cross site scripting (XSS) (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2021-31849](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31849/): Data Loss Prevention (DLP) ePO extension - SQL injection (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2021-31844](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31844/): Local Privilege Escalation in McAfee DLP Endpoint for Windows (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2016-8012](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8012/): Privilege escalation in Data Loss Prevention Endpoint (DLPe) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-3622](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3622/): DLP Endpoint log file redirection to arbitrary locations (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-23887 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-23887 is a high-severity vulnerability in McAfee,LLC McAfee Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Endpoint for Windows, published on 15 Apr 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-2021-23887 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: McAfee,LLC McAfee Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Endpoint for Windows. 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-2021-23887/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23887/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-23887
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-23887
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-23887

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23887/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.