CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2018-16715 — An issue was discovered in Absolute Software CTES Windows Agent through 1.0.0.1479
An issue was discovered in Absolute Software CTES Windows Agent through 1.0.0.1479. The security permissions on the %ProgramData%\CTES folder and sub-folders may allow write access to low-privileged user accounts. This allows unauthorized replacement of service program executable (EXE) or dynamically loadable library (DLL) files, causing elevated (SYSTEM) user access. Configuration control files or data files under this folder could also be similarly modified to affect service process behavior.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.0)
- Published
- 2018-09-08
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- windows/system
- Weaknesses
- CWE-732
Affected products
- absolute / ctes_windows_agent
Matched remediation archetype
Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
- Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
- Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.
Remediate safely
- Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
- Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
- Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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