CVE-2024-34010 is a high-severity local privilege escalation vulnerability affecting multiple Acronis products on Windows platforms, including Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent (before build 37758), Acronis Cyber Protect 16 (before build 38690), and Acronis True Image (before build 42386). The vulnerability arises from an unquoted search path issue (CWE-428), where the software improperly handles executable paths containing spaces without enclosing them in quotes. This flaw allows a local attacker with limited privileges but already authenticated access to the system to escalate their privileges to a higher level, potentially SYSTEM or administrative privileges. The vulnerability is exploitable without user interaction but requires local access and existing privileges (PR:H). The CVSS v3.0 score is 8.2, reflecting high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, with a complex scope due to the potential for privilege escalation and full system compromise. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no official patches or mitigation links have been published at the time of disclosure. The vulnerability affects the way the affected Acronis products search for executables or DLLs during their operation, which can be exploited by placing malicious executables in directories earlier in the search path, leading to execution with elevated privileges. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where Acronis products are used for backup, recovery, and cyber protection, as attackers could leverage this to bypass security controls and gain persistent, high-level access to critical systems.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2024-34010 could be significant, especially for enterprises relying on Acronis solutions for backup and cyber protection. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized privilege escalation, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges, potentially compromising sensitive data, disrupting backup and recovery operations, and undermining overall system integrity. This could result in data breaches, ransomware deployment, or sabotage of backup infrastructure, severely affecting business continuity and compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR. The local nature of the exploit means that attackers must have some initial access, which could be gained through phishing, insider threats, or other means. Once inside, the vulnerability facilitates lateral movement and privilege escalation, increasing the risk of widespread compromise within networks. The high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts make this vulnerability a critical concern for sectors with sensitive data and critical infrastructure, including finance, healthcare, government, and manufacturing in Europe.

European organizations should prioritize the following specific mitigation steps: 1) Immediate identification of affected Acronis products and versions deployed within their environments. 2) Apply any available patches or updates from Acronis as soon as they are released; monitor Acronis advisories closely since no patch links were available at disclosure. 3) Implement strict local privilege management to minimize the number of users with administrative rights on endpoints running Acronis software. 4) Restrict write permissions on directories included in the system PATH environment variable, especially those that are unquoted and contain spaces, to prevent attackers from placing malicious executables. 5) Employ application whitelisting and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to detect and block suspicious execution attempts originating from unusual paths. 6) Conduct regular audits of system PATH variables and software installation paths to ensure proper quoting and secure configurations. 7) Enhance monitoring for local privilege escalation attempts and anomalous process executions on systems running the affected products. 8) Educate IT and security teams about the risks associated with unquoted search path vulnerabilities and the importance of secure software deployment practices.