CVE Intelligence
CISA KEV High Access control

CVE-2021-23874 — McAfee Total Protection (MTP) Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability

Arbitrary Process Execution vulnerability in McAfee Total Protection (MTP) prior to 16.0.30 allows a local user to gain elevated privileges and execute arbitrary code bypassing MTP self-defense.

Published Feb 10, 2021 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP, GitHub Security Advisories · CNA: trellix

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

CISA KEV · Nov 3, 2021
How the score was calculated
  • Confirmed exploitation (CISA KEV)+35
  • EPSS 1% (30-day exploitation probability)+9
  • Technical severity (high)+6

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Confirmed
CISA KEV, listed Nov 3, 2021
EPSS FIRST
1.03%
ahead of 63% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Mcafee
McAfee Total Protection (MTP) and 1 more
CVSS base
7.8
High · 4 source(s)
Prioritization reference: 8.2 provisional

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
Active
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Total
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

CISA required action CISA

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

US federal deadline: Nov 17, 2021 — passed 1794 day(s) ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Mcafee McAfee Total Protection (MTP), Mcafee Total Protection).
  2. Treat as emergency remediation: the CVE is in CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).
  3. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (access control), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Mcafee McAfee Total Protection (MTP) < 16.0.30 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Mcafee Total Protection < 16.0.30 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
8.2 CVSS 3.1 High 1.5 6.0 trellixpsirt@trellix.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
8.2 CVSS 3.1 High — — trellix via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High 1.8 5.9 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High — — GitHub, Inc. via GitHub Security Advisories
4.6 CVSS 2.0 Medium 3.9 6.4 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)
Scoring entities (NIST, CNA, ADP) score independently; each score is shown with its origin. For prioritization we use 8.2 (trellixpsirt@trellix.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-732 · Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

Other CVEs with this weakness →

CISA KEV details CISA

CISA lists a CVE once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

Listed
Nov 3, 2021
Federal deadline
Nov 17, 2021
passed 1794 day(s) ago
Ransomware use
Unknown

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a reference date.

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 1.03%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
  • Audit administrative actions and access to resources outside each user’s normal pattern.
  • Hunt retroactively in logs from before Nov 3, 2021 (KEV listing): exploitation may have started earlier.
endpoint telemetry (EDR)authentication logsapplication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · mcafee,llc/mcafee total protection (mtp)
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 13, 2026
  • Affected products added · mcafee/total protection
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 7.8
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Analyzed
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Added to CISA KEV (detected)
    Oct 13, 2026 · CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 13, 2026 · CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
  • 2021
  • Added to CISA KEV catalog
    Nov 2, 2021 · CISA
  • CVE published
    Feb 10, 2021 · trellix

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 2× References added · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026
  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

4 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Mcafee
every CVE for this vendor
2021-11
what else CISA listed that month
Access control
same class
CWE-732
other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2021-23874 is "McAfee Total Protection (MTP) Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability", rated High. It affects McAfee Total Protection (MTP) (Mcafee); versions are in the scope table. It is in CISA KEV: there is evidence of real-world exploitation. CVSS 7.8 describes technical severity. EPSS 1.03% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

Comments

Moderated technical discussion. Read the community guidelines.

No comments yet.

Sign in or create an account to comment and suggest corrections.