CVE-2022-46868 in Cyber Protect Home Office
Summary
by MITRE • 08/31/2023
Local privilege escalation during recovery due to improper soft link handling. The following products are affected: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (Windows) before build 40173.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/27/2023
This vulnerability represents a critical local privilege escalation flaw in Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office versions prior to build 40173, specifically affecting Windows environments. The issue stems from inadequate handling of symbolic links during system recovery operations, creating a pathway for malicious actors to elevate their privileges from standard user level to administrative rights. The vulnerability manifests when the recovery process encounters symbolic links that are not properly validated or sanitized, allowing attackers to manipulate the recovery environment to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-59: Improper Link Resolution, which occurs when a system fails to properly resolve symbolic links or hard links, leading to unintended file access or execution. During recovery operations, the software creates temporary directories and files to facilitate system restoration processes. When symbolic links are present in these recovery paths, the system does not adequately verify the target of these links, potentially allowing an attacker to create malicious links that point to sensitive system files or executables. This improper link handling creates a race condition where an attacker can substitute legitimate files with malicious counterparts, effectively hijacking the recovery process to gain administrative access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity of the recovery system. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability can manipulate backup files, modify system binaries, or inject malicious code that persists beyond the recovery operation. This represents a significant threat to endpoint security, particularly in home office environments where users may not have sophisticated security awareness. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates during system recovery operations when users typically trust the system to perform legitimate functions, making the attack vector more insidious and harder to detect.
Security professionals should consider this vulnerability in the context of the ATT&CK framework under T1068: Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, where adversaries leverage system weaknesses to gain elevated privileges. The recovery process represents a high-value target in the attack lifecycle, as it provides a legitimate system function that can be exploited to gain administrative access. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to build 40173 or later, which includes proper symbolic link validation during recovery operations. Additionally, system administrators should review and harden recovery procedures to ensure that symbolic links are properly sanitized or eliminated from recovery paths. Network segmentation and monitoring of recovery processes can help detect anomalous behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability also underscores the importance of secure coding practices around file system operations, particularly during system maintenance and recovery functions, as emphasized in industry standards like the OWASP Secure Coding Practices and NIST SP 800-53 security controls.