CVE-2017-4057 in Advanced Threat Defense
Summary
by MITRE
Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the web interface in McAfee Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) 3.10, 3.8, 3.6, 3.4 allows remote authenticated users to gain elevated privileges via the GUI or GUI terminal commands.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/01/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-4057 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within the web interface of McAfee Advanced Threat Defense (ATD) versions 3.10, 3.8, 3.6, and 3.4. This weakness specifically affects the graphical user interface and command terminal functionalities, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on this threat detection and analysis platform. The vulnerability allows remote authenticated users to escalate their privileges without requiring additional authentication mechanisms, fundamentally undermining the security model of the system.
The technical implementation of this privilege escalation vulnerability stems from inadequate access control mechanisms within the web interface components of McAfee ATD. Attackers who have already established legitimate authentication credentials can exploit this flaw to execute commands with elevated privileges, potentially gaining administrative access to the entire system. This issue typically manifests through improper validation of user permissions during GUI operations or terminal command execution, where the system fails to properly verify whether the authenticated user possesses sufficient privileges for the requested operations. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-284, which specifically addresses improper access control, and represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege that should govern all system access controls.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-4057 extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it creates a potential pathway for attackers to fully compromise the targeted McAfee ATD appliance. Once an attacker successfully elevates their privileges, they can access sensitive system configurations, modify security policies, extract threat intelligence data, and potentially use the compromised system as a pivot point for attacking other network resources. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on McAfee ATD for threat analysis and incident response, as it could allow attackers to undermine the very security measures designed to protect against advanced persistent threats. The remote nature of this vulnerability means that attackers do not require physical access to the system, making it particularly dangerous in networked environments.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate remediation through official McAfee security patches and updates. The mitigation strategy should include implementing network segmentation to limit access to the ATD appliance, enforcing strict access controls, and monitoring for suspicious privilege escalation attempts. Security teams should also consider implementing additional monitoring controls to detect unauthorized command execution or privilege changes within the affected systems. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of regular security assessments and patch management processes, as it represents a failure in the vendor's access control implementation that could be exploited by threat actors with minimal technical expertise. Organizations should also review their incident response procedures to ensure they can quickly detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts of this type of privilege escalation vulnerability.