Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2016-20086: Vembu StoreGrid unquoted service path in RemoteBackup services

CVE-2016-20086 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.8 · Published 2026-06-19

Executive brief

Vembu StoreGrid is a backup solution used by businesses to protect and manage data. A security flaw in how the software is installed on Windows allows a user with low-level access to the computer to gain full administrative control. By placing a malicious file in a specific location, an attacker can trick the system into running their code with the highest possible privileges, potentially leading to a complete takeover of the backup server.

Technical details

Vembu StoreGrid 4.0 is vulnerable to an unquoted service path (CWE-428) within the 'RemoteBackup' and 'RemoteBackup_webServer' Windows services. The binary paths for these services (e.g., C:\Program Files\MSP\RemoteBackup\bin\StoreGrid.exe) are not enclosed in quotation marks, leading Windows to attempt to execute files at intercepting points in the path if spaces are present. A local attacker with file system permissions to write to the root or intermediate directories can place a malicious executable (such as C:\Program.exe) that will be executed with LocalSystem privileges when the service restarts or the system reboots. This allows for full local privilege escalation from a standard user to System.

Affected products

  • Vembu StoreGrid 4.0

Timeline

  • 2016-10-19: disclosed: Initial exploit published on Exploit-DB
  • 2026-06-19: advisory: NVD/VulnCheck advisory published

References