CVE-2019-19741: Electronic Arts Origin 10.5.55.33574 is vulnerable to local privilege escalation due to arbitrary directory DACL manipulation, a different issue than CVE-2019-1

Electronic Arts Origin 10.5.55.33574 is vulnerable to local privilege escalation due to arbitrary directory DACL manipulation, a different issue than CVE-2019-1

Electronic Arts Origin 10.5.55.33574 is vulnerable to local privilege escalation due to arbitrary directory DACL manipulation, a different issue than CVE-2019-19247 and CVE-2019-19248. When Origin.exe connects to the named pipe OriginClientService, the privileged service verifies the client's executable file instead of its in-memory process (which can be significantly different from the executable file due to, for example, DLL injection). Data transmitted over the pipe is encrypted using a static key. Instead of hooking the pipe communication directly via WriteFileEx(), this can be bypassed by hooking the EVP_EncryptUpdate() function of libeay32.dll. The pipe takes the command CreateDirectory to create a directory and adjust the directory DACL. Calls to this function can be intercepted, the directory and the DACL can be replaced, and the manipulated DACL is written. Arbitrary DACL write is further achieved by creating a hardlink in a user-controlled directory that points to (for example) a service binary. The DACL is then written to this service binary, which results in escalation of privileges.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by MITRE

What it means for a small business

If your business uses Origin, install the vendor's update. If you're not sure whether you use it, ask whoever manages your computers.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.72%, higher than 53% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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