Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-31839 lets a local user on a Windows endpoint tamper with McAfee Agent event data before it reaches ePO. This can create false security records or remove real ones, weakening monitoring and incident response rather than directly enabling remote compromise.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate-priority endpoint visibility issue. It does not indicate remote takeover, but it can undermine trust in security telemetry after local access. Patch during normal endpoint maintenance, sooner for sensitive systems.
Technical view
McAfee Agent for Windows before 5.7.3 has improper privilege management on the MA event folder. A low-privileged local user may modify pending event information, affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability at low impact. CVSS v3.1 is 4.8 with local attack vector and low attack complexity.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Windows systems running McAfee Agent versions earlier than 5.7.3. Risk is higher where endpoint users have local access and security operations rely on ePO event integrity for detection, audit, or compliance reporting.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. Exploitation requires local access and some user interaction per CVSS, so this is mainly a post-access log integrity risk.
Researcher notes
The key security impact is event manipulation before forwarding to ePO. Public bundle evidence identifies improper privilege management, local attack vector, and affected versions before 5.7.3. No exploit details, affected CPEs, or active exploitation evidence are provided.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade McAfee Agent for Windows to version 5.7.3 or later.
- Review McAfee advisory SB10362 for vendor-specific remediation guidance.
- Prioritize endpoints used by administrators or high-risk users.
- Monitor ePO for unexpected gaps, duplicates, or unusual endpoint event patterns.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Windows endpoints running McAfee Agent and record versions.
- Flag any McAfee Agent for Windows version earlier than 5.7.3.
- Confirm endpoint events are reaching ePO as expected.
- Review recent endpoint logs for missing or suspiciously altered event sequences.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-269: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-31839 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L1.33.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.8MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10362CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Privilege Management
Improper Privilege Management represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.