CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2022-41604 — Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security before 15.8.211.19229 allows local users to escalate privileges

High CVSS 8.8

Check Point ZoneAlarm Extreme Security before 15.8.211.19229 allows local users to escalate privileges. This occurs because of weak permissions for the %PROGRAMDATA%\CheckPoint\ZoneAlarm\Data\Updates directory, and a self-protection driver bypass that allows creation of a junction directory. This can be leveraged to perform an arbitrary file move as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.

Severity
High
CVSS
8.8 (3.1)
Published
2022-09-27
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-269

Affected products

  • checkpoint / zonealarm

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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