Vulnerability record · CVE-2021-28098 · published 14 April 2021
CVE-2021-28098: Forescout counteract link following vulnerability
Forescout · Counteract
An issue was discovered in Forescout CounterACT before 8.1.4. A local privilege escalation vulnerability is present in the logging function. SecureConnector runs with administrative privileges and writes logs entries to a file in %PROGRAMDATA%\ForeScout SecureConnector\ that has full permissions for the Everyone group. Using a symbolic link allows an attacker to point the log file to a privileged location such as %WINDIR%\System32. The resulting log file adopts the file permissions of the source of the symbolic link (in this case, the Everyone group). The log file in System32 can be replaced and renamed with a malicious DLL for DLL hijacking.
Description
An issue was discovered in Forescout CounterACT before 8.1.4. A local privilege escalation vulnerability is present in the logging function. SecureConnector runs with administrative privileges and writes logs entries to a file in %PROGRAMDATA%\ForeScout SecureConnector\ that has full permissions for the Everyone group. Using a symbolic link allows an attacker to point the log file to a privileged location such as %WINDIR%\System32. The resulting log file adopts the file permissions of the source of the symbolic link (in this case, the Everyone group). The log file in System32 can be replaced and renamed with a malicious DLL for DLL hijacking.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected products
1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.
References
| Link | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://docs.forescout.com | Vendor Advisory |
| https://jordanpotti.com/2021/03/30/forescout-priv-esc-folder-permissions/ | ExploitThird Party Advisory |
| https://www.adversis.io/research/2021/3/30/forescout-secure-connector-local-privilege-escalation | ExploitThird Party Advisory |
| https://docs.forescout.com | Vendor Advisory |
| https://jordanpotti.com/2021/03/30/forescout-priv-esc-folder-permissions/ | ExploitThird Party Advisory |
| https://www.adversis.io/research/2021/3/30/forescout-secure-connector-local-privilege-escalation | ExploitThird Party Advisory |
Track CVE-2021-28098 inside VULONE
Watch it alongside the ransomware crews, C2 infrastructure and forum chatter that reference it, query it through the API and pull it into your SIEM over TAXII.
Related vulnerabilities
Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2021-28098), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.
