# CVE-2025-62511: yt-grabber-tui local arbitrary file overwrite via TOCTOU race in config file creation

> A local attacker can exploit a TOCTOU race condition to overwrite arbitrary files via symbolic links, potentially leading to data corruption or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 17 Oct 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hwwf-fq6p-rw9q

## What is CVE-2025-62511?

CVE-2025-62511 is a medium-severity vulnerability in zheny-creator YtGrabber-TUI, published on 17 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

yt-grabber-tui is a C++ terminal user interface application for downloading YouTube content. yt-grabber-tui version 1.0 contains a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition (CWE-367) in the creation of the default configuration file config.json. In version 1.0, load_json_settings in Settings.hpp checks for the existence of config.json using boost::filesystem::exists and, if the file is missing, calls create_json_settings which writes the JSON configuration with boost::property_tree::write_json. A local attacker with write access to the application’s configuration directory (~/.config/yt-grabber-tui on Linux or the current working directory on Windows) can create a symbolic link between the existence check and the subsequent write so that the write operation follows the symlink and overwrites an attacker-chosen file accessible to the running process. This enables arbitrary file overwrite within the privileges of the application process, which can corrupt files and cause loss of application or user data. If the application is executed with elevated privileges, this could extend to system file corruption. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.1.

Weakness: CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-62511?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-62511?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-62511 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-62511 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-62511 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-62511 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-62511 is a medium-severity vulnerability in zheny-creator YtGrabber-TUI, published on 17 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-62511 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: zheny-creator YtGrabber-TUI. 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-2025-62511/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-62511/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-62511
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-62511
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-62511

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-62511/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
