CVE-2021-20172
All known versions of the Netgear Genie Installer for macOS contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.30%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
All known versions of the Netgear Genie Installer for macOS contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. The installer of the macOS version of Netgear Genie handles certain files in an insecure way. A malicious actor who has local access to the endpoint on which the software is going to be installed may overwrite certain files to obtain privilege escalation to root.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.30% probability · 22th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-732
- Affected
- netgear/genie installer
- Source
- vulnreport@tenable.com
EPSS 0.3% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2021-56Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.tenable.com/security/research/tra-2021-56Exploit, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.