CVE-2024-13164 is a vulnerability identified in Ivanti Endpoint Manager, a widely used endpoint management solution. The root cause is the use of an uninitialized resource within the software, classified under CWE-908. This programming flaw allows a local authenticated attacker to escalate their privileges on the affected system. Specifically, the vulnerability exists in versions prior to the 2024 January-2025 Security Update and the 2022 SU6 January-2025 Security Update. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8, indicating high severity. The attack vector is local (AV:L), requiring low attack complexity (AC:L) and low privileges (PR:L), with no user interaction (UI:N) needed. The scope remains unchanged (S:U), but the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high (C:H/I:H/A:H). Although no public exploits have been reported yet, the potential for privilege escalation means attackers with local access could gain administrative control, compromising the entire system. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, disruption of endpoint management operations, and potential lateral movement within an enterprise network. Ivanti Endpoint Manager is commonly deployed in enterprise environments for managing endpoints, making this vulnerability particularly critical for organizations relying on it for security and operational management.

The impact of CVE-2024-13164 is significant for organizations using Ivanti Endpoint Manager. Successful exploitation allows a local authenticated attacker to escalate privileges, potentially gaining administrative control over the endpoint management system. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive corporate data, manipulation or disruption of endpoint configurations, and the ability to deploy malicious payloads across managed devices. The compromise of endpoint management tools can severely undermine an organization's security posture, enabling further attacks such as ransomware deployment or data exfiltration. Given the high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts, organizations face risks including operational downtime, data breaches, regulatory non-compliance, and reputational damage. The requirement for local access limits remote exploitation but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments where endpoint users have some level of authenticated access. The absence of known exploits in the wild provides a window for proactive mitigation before widespread attacks occur.

To mitigate CVE-2024-13164, organizations should immediately apply the Ivanti Endpoint Manager security updates released in the 2024 January-2025 Security Update and the 2022 SU6 January-2025 Security Update. If patching is not immediately feasible, restrict local access to systems running Ivanti Endpoint Manager to trusted and authorized personnel only. Implement strict access controls and monitor for unusual privilege escalation attempts or local access anomalies. Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to detect suspicious activities indicative of exploitation attempts. Regularly audit user permissions and remove unnecessary local privileges to reduce the attack surface. Additionally, ensure that system and application logs are collected and analyzed for signs of exploitation. Network segmentation can also limit the impact of a compromised endpoint manager by isolating critical infrastructure. Finally, maintain an incident response plan that includes scenarios involving privilege escalation within endpoint management tools.