CVE-2024-13962 Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Avast Cleanup Premium Version 24.2.16593.17810

High 7.8 Published Updated

Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM via a TOCTTOU race condition involving symbolic links in Avast Cleanup Premium.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Any signed-in user
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
None listed

What is CVE-2024-13962?

CVE-2024-13962 is a high-severity vulnerability in Avast CleanUp Premium, published on 9 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in TuneupSvc in Gen Digital Inc. Avast Cleanup Premium Version 24.2.16593.17810 on Windows 10 Pro x64 allows local attackers to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM via creating a symbolic link and leveraging a TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) attack.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-13962?

How do I fix CVE-2024-13962?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-13962 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2024-13962 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-13962 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-g29r-vm3j-h4pj.

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