SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2018-16715

The security permissions on the %ProgramData%\CTES folder and sub-folders may allow write access to low-privileged user accounts.

HIGH 8.8EPSS 0.86%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.86%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

An issue was discovered in Absolute Software CTES Windows Agent through 1.0.0.1479. The security permissions on the %ProgramData%\CTES folder and sub-folders may allow write access to low-privileged user accounts. This allows unauthorized replacement of service program executable (EXE) or dynamically loadable library (DLL) files, causing elevated (SYSTEM) user access. Configuration control files or data files under this folder could also be similarly modified to affect service process behavior.

CVSS 3.0
8.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
0.86% probability · 58th percentile
Public exploits
None in Exploit-DB
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-732
Affected
absolute/ctes windows agent
Source
cve@mitre.org
EPSS trend
0%3%5%27 October 2026: 0.86%27 October 202627 October 2026

EPSS 0.9% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.