# CVE-2021-3576: Privilege escalation via SeImpersonatePrivilege

> A local attacker can exploit unnecessary privileges to elevate their access to SYSTEM level in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools and Total Security.

- **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:** 28 Oct 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2p82-m3fp-gp3x

## What is CVE-2021-3576?

CVE-2021-3576 is a high-severity vulnerability in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools, published on 28 Oct 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Execution with Unnecessary Privileges vulnerability in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools, Total Security allows a local attacker to elevate to 'NT AUTHORITY\System. Impersonation enables the server thread to perform actions on behalf of the client but within the limits of the client's security context. This issue affects: Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools versions prior to 7.2.1.65. Bitdefender Total Security versions prior to 25.0.26.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-3576?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools, Bitdefender Total Security.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-3576?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-3576 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-3576 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3576 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools

- [CVE-2021-3554](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3554/): Improper Access Control vulnerability in the patchesUpdate API (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2021-3579](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3579/): Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in bdservicehost.exe and Vulnerability.Scan.exe (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-0677](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0677/): Improper Handling of Length Parameter Inconsistency vulnerability in Bitdefender Update Server (VA-10144) (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-3485](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3485/): Improper Input Validation in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Linux (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2021-3552](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3552/): Insufficient validation on regular expression in EPPUpdateService config file (VA-9825) (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-3576 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-3576 is a high-severity vulnerability in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools, published on 28 Oct 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-2021-3576 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools. 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-2021-3576/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3576/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3576
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3576
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-3576

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3576/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.