CVE-2021-23872
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in McAfee Total Protection (MTP)
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the File Lock component of McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.32 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges by manipulating a symbolic link in the IOCTL interface.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in McAfee Total Protection (MTP)
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the File Lock component of McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.32 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges by manipulating a symbolic link in the IOCTL interface.
- Record
CVE-2021-23872- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-10798
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the File Lock component of McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.32 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges by manipulating a symbolic link in the IOCTL interface.
- Record
EUVD-2021-10798- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-w9xp-gh5g-rf6p
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the File Lock component of McAfee Total Protection (MTP)...
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the File Lock component of McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.32 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges by manipulating a symbolic link in the IOCTL interface.
- Record
GHSA-w9xp-gh5g-rf6p- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59, CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the File Lock component of McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.32 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges by manipulating a symbolic link in the IOCTL interface.
- Record
CVE-2021-23872- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 4.6 Medium
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-23872 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) in Mcafee Total Protection, published May 12, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.43%, the 37th percentile. No source names a fixed version.