CVE-2022-4418
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2022-4418 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office for Windows that allows attackers to load unsigned libraries and gain elevated privileges. This affects users running vulnerable versions of the software on Windows systems. An attacker with local access could exploit this to execute code with higher privileges than intended.
💻 Affected Systems
- Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker with local access gains SYSTEM/administrator privileges, enabling complete system compromise, data theft, malware persistence, and lateral movement.
Likely Case
Malicious local user or malware escalates privileges to install additional payloads, modify system configurations, or bypass security controls.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper access controls restrict local user privileges and endpoint protection detects suspicious library loading behavior.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires local access and ability to place malicious libraries in specific locations; no public exploit code has been disclosed.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Build 40208 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://security-advisory.acronis.com/advisories/SEC-4729
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. 2. Check for updates in the application. 3. Install update to build 40208 or later. 4. Restart the system to complete the update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict local user privileges
windowsLimit standard user accounts to prevent local code execution and library manipulation.
Enable application control policies
windowsUse Windows AppLocker or similar to restrict unsigned library loading.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Uninstall Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office if not essential
- Implement strict endpoint detection and monitoring for suspicious library loading activities
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office version in the application interface or via Windows Programs and Features.Check Version:
wmic product where name="Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office" get versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 40208 or higher in the application or via 'wmic product where name="Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office" get version' command.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Windows Event Logs showing unsigned DLL loading by Acronis processes
- Acronis application logs showing unexpected library loads
Network Indicators:
- No network indicators as this is a local exploit
SIEM Query:
Process creation events where parent process is Acronis-related and child process has elevated privileges