What is CVE-2021-31853?

CVE-2021-31853 is a high-severity vulnerability in Mcafee Drive Encryption, classified under Uncontrolled Search Path Element. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2021-11-10.

How severe is CVE-2021-31853?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Mcafee Drive Encryption

CVE-2021-31853

DLL Search Order Hijacking Vulnerability in McAfee Drive Encryption (MDE) prior to 7.3.0 HF2 (7.3.0.183) allows local users to execute arbitrary code and escalate privileges via execution from a compromised folder.

Published 2021-11-10 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (8.6th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 9th percentile — 8.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Mcafee Drive Encryption — versions 7.3.0
Mcafee,llc Mcafee Drive Encryption (Mde) — versions unspecified

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-427 — Uncontrolled Search Path Element

References

kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index (Broken Link)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-31853?: CVE-2021-31853 is a high-severity vulnerability in Mcafee Drive Encryption, classified under Uncontrolled Search Path Element. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2021-11-10.
How severe is CVE-2021-31853?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.