# CVE-2021-45492: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Unprivileged users can escalate privileges to SYSTEM via DLL hijacking due to weak permissions on the installation directory in the system PATH.

- **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:** 14 Jul 2022
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gw28-7ffr-r8wm

## What is CVE-2021-45492?

CVE-2021-45492 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Jul 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Sage 300 ERP (formerly accpac) through 6.8.x, the installer configures the C:\Sage\Sage300\Runtime directory to be the first entry in the system-wide PATH environment variable. However, this directory is writable by unprivileged users because the Sage installer fails to set explicit permissions and therefore inherits weak permissions from the C:\ folder. Because entries in the system-wide PATH variable are included in the search order for DLLs, an attacker could perform DLL search-order hijacking to escalate their privileges to SYSTEM. Furthermore, if the Global Search or Web Screens functionality is enabled, then privilege escalation is possible via the GlobalSearchService and Sage.CNA.WindowsService services, again via DLL search-order hijacking because unprivileged users would have modify permissions on the application directory. Note that while older versions of the software default to installing in %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% (which would allow the Sage folder to inherit strong permissions, making the installation not vulnerable), the official Sage 300 installation guides for those versions recommend installing in C:\Sage, which would make the installation vulnerable.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-45492?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Sage Sage 300.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-45492?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-45492 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-45492 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-45492 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2022-41397](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41397/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-41400](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41400/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-38583](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-38583/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-41398](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41398/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-41399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41399/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-45492 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-45492 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Jul 2022. 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-2021-45492 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2021-45492/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-45492/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-45492
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-45492
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-45492

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-45492/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.