📄 Description (English)
McAfee Total Protection (MTP) Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability — McAfee Total Protection (MTP) contains an improper privilege management vulnerability that allows a local user to gain elevated privileges and execute code, bypassing MTP self-defense.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2021-23874 is a critical privilege escalation vulnerability in McAfee Total Protection that allows local users to bypass security controls and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. With a CVSS score of 9.0 and publicly available exploits, this poses an immediate threat to organizations relying on McAfee for endpoint protection. Rapid patching is essential to prevent unauthorized system compromise and lateral movement within networks.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 20, 2026 03:55
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Saudi banking institutions (SAMA-regulated), government agencies (NCA oversight), and critical infrastructure operators including energy sector (ARAMCO, SEC) and telecommunications (STC, Mobily). Organizations using McAfee Total Protection as primary endpoint protection face elevated risk of insider threats, privilege escalation attacks, and potential data exfiltration. Government entities and financial institutions are particularly vulnerable due to high-value targets and regulatory compliance requirements.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Banking and Financial Services
Government and Public Administration
Energy and Utilities
Telecommunications
Healthcare
Critical Infrastructure
Defense and Security
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1548 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
T1548.004 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Elevated Execution with Prompt
T1134 - Access Token Manipulation
T1547 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution
T1547.001 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
T1547.014 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Active Setup
T1197 - BITS Jobs
T1547.010 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Port Monitors
T1547.012 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Print Processors
T1547.013 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Shutdown Event Hooks
T1547.015 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Login Items
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
9.2
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Identify all systems running McAfee Total Protection and create an inventory
2. Isolate or restrict local user access on critical systems pending patching
3. Enable enhanced logging and monitoring for privilege escalation attempts
4. Review recent access logs for suspicious privilege elevation activities
PATCHING GUIDANCE:
1. Apply McAfee Total Protection security updates immediately (patch version 16.0.28 or later)
2. Prioritize patching for systems with administrative access and sensitive data
3. Test patches in non-production environment before enterprise deployment
4. Implement phased rollout to minimize business disruption
COMPENSATING CONTROLS:
1. Implement application whitelisting to restrict unauthorized code execution
2. Deploy Host-based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) rules
3. Enforce principle of least privilege for local user accounts
4. Disable unnecessary local administrator accounts
5. Monitor and restrict local user account creation
DETECTION RULES:
1. Monitor for unexpected privilege escalation events in Windows Event Logs (Event ID 4688, 4672)
2. Alert on McAfee process termination or self-defense bypass attempts
3. Track unauthorized modifications to McAfee installation directories
4. Monitor for suspicious parent-child process relationships involving system processes
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تحديد جميع الأنظمة التي تعمل بـ McAfee Total Protection وإنشاء قائمة جرد
2. عزل أو تقييد وصول المستخدمين المحليين على الأنظمة الحرجة قبل التصحيح
3. تفعيل السجلات المحسّنة والمراقبة لمحاولات تصعيد الامتيازات
4. مراجعة سجلات الوصول الأخيرة للأنشطة المريبة لتصعيد الامتيازات
إرشادات التصحيح:
1. تطبيق تحديثات أمان McAfee Total Protection فوراً (الإصدار 16.0.28 أو أحدث)
2. إعطاء الأولوية لتصحيح الأنظمة ذات الوصول الإداري والبيانات الحساسة
3. اختبار التصحيحات في بيئة غير الإنتاج قبل نشر المؤسسة
4. تنفيذ طرح متدرج لتقليل انقطاع الأعمال
عناصر التحكم البديلة:
1. تنفيذ قائمة بيضاء للتطبيقات لتقييد تنفيذ الأكواد غير المصرح بها
2. نشر قواعد نظام الوقاية من الاختراق على المضيف (HIPS)
3. فرض مبدأ أقل امتياز لحسابات المستخدمين المحليين
4. تعطيل حسابات المسؤول المحلي غير الضرورية
5. مراقبة وتقييد إنشاء حسابات المستخدمين المحليين
قواعد الكشف:
1. مراقبة أحداث تصعيد الامتيازات غير المتوقعة في سجلات أحداث Windows (معرف الحدث 4688، 4672)
2. تنبيه عند إنهاء عملية McAfee أو محاولات تجاوز الدفاع الذاتي
3. تتبع التعديلات غير المصرح بها على دلائل تثبيت McAfee
4. مراقبة علاقات العمليات الأب-الفرع المريبة التي تتضمن عمليات النظام
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
A.5.1.1 - Information Security Policies and Procedures
A.6.1.1 - Internal Organization
A.6.2.1 - Mobile Device Management
A.8.1.1 - User Access Management
A.8.2.1 - User Access Rights
A.9.1.1 - Physical and Environmental Security
A.9.2.1 - Equipment Security
A.10.1.1 - Cryptography
A.12.2.1 - Change Management
A.12.4.1 - Event Logging
A.12.6.1 - Management of Technical Vulnerabilities
🔵 SAMA CSF
Governance - Risk Management Framework
Governance - Cybersecurity Governance
Protect - Access Control and Identity Management
Protect - Data Protection and Privacy
Protect - System and Communications Protection
Detect - Security Monitoring and Incident Detection
Respond - Incident Response and Management
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
5.1 - Policies for Information Security
6.1 - Information Security Roles and Responsibilities
6.2 - Information Security Competence
8.1 - User Endpoint Devices
8.2 - Privileged Access Rights
8.3 - Information Access Restriction
8.6 - Access Control for Change of Information Processing Facilities
10.1 - Information Security Incident Procedures
10.2 - Assessment and Decision on Information Security Incidents
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
Requirement 2 - Default Security Parameters
Requirement 6 - Develop and Maintain Secure Systems and Applications
Requirement 8 - Identify and Authenticate Access
Requirement 10 - Track and Monitor All Access to Network Resources
Requirement 12 - Maintain Information Security Policy
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
McAfee:McAfee Total Protection (MTP)