# CVE-2023-29080: Privilege escalation in InstallShield

> Attackers can escalate privileges by replacing binaries in writable folders during InstallShield installation, leading to DLL hijacking and code execution.

- **Severity:** High 8.5 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **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 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 12 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jgh6-r92w-wgcf

## What is CVE-2023-29080?

CVE-2023-29080 is a high-severity vulnerability in Revenera InstallShield, published on 30 Jan 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Potential privilege escalation vulnerability in Revenera InstallShield versions 2022 R2 and 2021 R2 due to adding InstallScript custom action to a Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI project extracting few binaries to a predefined writable folder during installation time. The standard user account has write access to these files and folders, hence replacing them during installation time can lead to a DLL hijacking vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-552 (Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-29080?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-29080?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-29080 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-29080 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-29080 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-29080 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-29080 is a high-severity vulnerability in Revenera InstallShield, published on 30 Jan 2025. 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-2023-29080 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Revenera InstallShield. 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-2023-29080/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29080/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-29080
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-29080
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-29080

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29080/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.