Private equity firm Thoma Bravo LLC is in early talks to buy security software company McAfee from TPG Capital and Intel

Talks are at an early stage, and there is no guarantee they will lead to a deal, the source said.

Intel paid $7.7 billion for McAfee in 2011, has been off loading its interest in the company. Last year it completed the sale of a 51 percent stake in the company to TPG at a $4.2 billion enterprise value last year.

Thoma Bravo has been seeking to consolidate into the cybersecurity sector.

In October, it announced a $2.1 billion acquisition of Imperva and last month announced the addition of another cybersecurity firm called Veracode from Broadcom for $950 million.

Last month, Reuters reported that Thoma Bravo had approached Symantec with a takeover offer.