CVE-2022-44746 in Cyber Protect Home Office
Summary
by MITRE • 11/07/2022
Sensitive information disclosure due to insecure folder permissions. The following products are affected: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (Windows) before build 40107.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/05/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-44746 represents a critical sensitive information disclosure issue affecting Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office versions prior to build 40107 on Windows platforms. This weakness stems from insecure folder permissions that allow unauthorized access to confidential data stored within the application's directory structure. The flaw manifests when the software fails to properly enforce access controls on its installation directories and associated data folders, creating potential entry points for malicious actors to extract sensitive information. The vulnerability falls under the broader category of inadequate access control mechanisms that are commonly classified as CWE-284 Access Control Issues, specifically targeting improper access control in file system permissions. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability exposes organizations to significant risk as it could enable attackers to access backup configurations, user credentials, system logs, and other sensitive operational data that the backup software typically handles. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure as it may facilitate further exploitation attempts including privilege escalation, lateral movement, or data exfiltration activities that align with tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under T1005 Data from Local System and T1567 Credential Access categories.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when the Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office installation creates folder structures with overly permissive access controls during the setup process. These insecure permissions typically grant read access to sensitive directories for users or groups that should not have such privileges, including local users, guest accounts, or even system processes that do not require access to backup configuration data. The affected build versions demonstrate a failure to implement proper discretionary access control lists that would normally restrict access to only authorized system components or administrators. This misconfiguration allows any user account on the system to potentially read files within the application's data storage areas, including configuration files that may contain encryption keys, network credentials, or other operational data that could be leveraged for additional attacks. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in enterprise environments where multiple users share systems or where the software runs with elevated privileges, as it creates a persistent attack surface that could be exploited by both internal and external threat actors.
Organizations utilizing affected versions of Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office should implement immediate remediation measures to address this vulnerability. The primary mitigation strategy involves updating to build 40107 or later versions that contain proper access control implementations and corrected folder permission settings. System administrators should also conduct thorough permission audits of existing Acronis installation directories to ensure that only authorized accounts possess read access to sensitive data locations. Additional protective measures include implementing network segmentation to limit access to systems running backup software, enforcing principle of least privilege for user accounts, and monitoring for unauthorized access attempts to backup data directories. Security teams should also consider deploying file integrity monitoring solutions to detect unauthorized changes to backup configuration files and system logs. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper access control implementation in security software, as insecure default configurations can undermine the very protection that backup solutions are designed to provide. Organizations should also review their incident response procedures to ensure they can quickly detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts targeting this specific vulnerability, particularly in environments where backup systems may contain sensitive organizational data.