Security Resilience

CVE-2023-39246

Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise ≤ 11.8.1

Published
16 November 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0015 4th percentile
Risk Priority 34 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-39246 is a medium-severity UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following (CWE-61) vulnerability in Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise. Its CVSS base score is 4.6 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked at the 4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Dell Encryption, Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise, and Dell Security Management Server version prior to 11.8.1 contain an Insecure Operation on Windows Junction Vulnerability during installation. A local malicious user could potentially exploit this vulnerability to create an arbitrary folder…

more

inside a restricted directory, leading to Privilege Escalation

CWE(s)
CWE-61CWE-59

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-52537Same product: Microsoft Windows
CVE-2025-36611Same product: Dell Encryption
CVE-2025-36564Same product: Dell Encryption
CVE-2024-52535Same vendor: Dell
CVE-2024-52542Same vendor: Dell
CVE-2024-47480Same vendor: Dell
CVE-2024-25952Same vendor: Dell
CVE-2025-22480Same vendor: Dell
CVE-2024-25953Same vendor: Dell
CVE-2024-39578Same vendor: Dell

Affected Assets

dell
endpoint security suite enterprise
≤ 11.8.1
dell
encryption
≤ 11.8.1
dell
security management server
≤ 11.8.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification can discover existing symlink issues but does not prevent or remediate them in code.

PR.AA-05 partial match
blocks

Least-privilege access policies can limit damage from symlink attacks but do not address the coding flaw itself.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of symlink-following flaws in file-handling code.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248577 OL 8 must enable kernel parameters to enforce Discretionary Access Control (DAC) on symlinks. blocks CWE-61

References