Categories: CVE/vulnerability

Dell SupportAssist Bug Exposes Business & Home PCs Let Hackers Attack Hundreds of Million Dell Computers

A high severity vulnerability resides in Dell SupportAssist for Business & Home PCs allows a low privileged user to execute arbitrary code with admin privileges on vulnerable installations.

The Dell SupportAssist is a monitoring tool that comes preinstalled on most Dell devices running Windows operating systems.

It automatically checks for system health, if any issues detected it will notify Dell for troubleshooting.

Dell SupportAssist is the smart technology that keeps your computer running at its best, Customers with Premium Support or Premium Support Plus with the feature, reads Dell statement.

Uncontrolled Search Path Vulnerability

A low privileged user could exploit this vulnerability to cause the loading of arbitrary DLLs by the SupportAssist binaries, resulting in the privileged execution of arbitrary code, reads Dell advisory.

This vulnerability would occur if the application uses the directory search path to find executables, but the path allows contains a directory that can be modified by an attacker.

If the attacker gained access to the locations searched by the software, the attacker can place a malicious library that can be loaded by the application.

The vulnerability can be tracked as CVE-2020-5316 and received a CVSS Base Score: 7.8. Following are the affected versions

Dell SupportAssist for business PCs version 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3

Dell SupportAssist for home PCs version 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.1, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.3, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.4

Fixed Versions

  • Dell SupportAssist for business PCs version 2.1.4
  • Dell SupportAssist for home PCs version 3.4.1

Dell advises users to update with the latest version at the earliest, if you have auto-update enabled, then it will get updated automatically.

Gurubaran

Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.

Recent Posts

Netgear EX6200 Flaw Enables Remote Access and Data Theft

Security researchers have disclosed three critical vulnerabilities in the Netgear EX6200 Wi-Fi range extender that…

5 hours ago

Tesla Model 3 VCSEC Vulnerability Lets Hackers Run Arbitrary Code

A high security flaw in Tesla’s Model 3 vehicles, disclosed at the 2025 Pwn2Own hacking…

5 hours ago

Quantum Computing and Cybersecurity – What CISOs Need to Know Now

As quantum computing transitions from theoretical research to practical application, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs)…

5 hours ago

Apache ActiveMQ Vulnerability Lets Remote Hackers Execute Arbitrary Code

A high vulnerability in Apache ActiveMQ’s .NET Message Service (NMS) library has been uncovered, enabling…

9 hours ago

Commvault Confirms Zero-Day Attack Breached Its Azure Cloud Environment

Commvault, a global leader in data protection and information management, has confirmed that a sophisticated…

10 hours ago

FBI Uncovers 42,000 Phishing Domains Tied to LabHost PhaaS Operation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has revealed the existence of 42,000 phishing domains associated…

10 hours ago