# CVE-2022-31466: TOCTOU Vulnerability in Quick Heal Total Security

> Local attackers can exploit a race condition in Quick Heal Total Security to escalate privileges and delete system files by replacing malicious files with symlinks.

- **Severity:** High 7.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 23 May 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2gxp-7297-pp9h

## What is CVE-2022-31466?

CVE-2022-31466 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 23 May 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Time of Check - Time of Use (TOCTOU) vulnerability in Quick Heal Total Security prior to 12.1.1.27 allows a local attacker to achieve privilege escalation, potentially leading to deletion of system files. This is achieved through exploiting the time between detecting a file as malicious and when the action of quarantining or cleaning is performed, and using the time to replace the malicious file by a symlink.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access), CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-31466?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Quickheal Total Security.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-31466?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-31466 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-31466 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31466 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2022-31467](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31467/): DLL Hijacking Vulnerability in Quick Heal Total Security (high 7.9)
- [CVE-2025-69875](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-69875/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2015-8285](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8285/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-27587](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27587/): Weak cryptography in n/a (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2020-27586](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27586/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-31466 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-31466 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 23 May 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-31466 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31466/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31466/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-31466
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-31466
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-31466

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31466/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.