CVE Explorer
CVE-2026-23988
Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives. Versions 4.11 and below contain a race condition (TOCTOU) in src/net.c during the creation, validation, and execution of the Fido PowerShell script. Since Rufus runs with elevated privileges (Administrator) but writes the script to the %TEMP% directory (writeable by standard users) without locking the file, a local attacker can replace the legitimate script with a malicious one between the file write operation and the exe
Known exploited
Not asserted
Disputed
No
Stale source
No
Conflicts
0
Affected products and versions
1 source assertion{"product":"rufus","vendor":"pbatard","versions":[{"status":"affected","version":"< 4.12_BETA"}]}
- cve_program_cvelist_v5affectedurn:baitaphish:normalized-source-record:v2:3f62f1821caab7b9c3cee45cb1989681f5902593dafb7c5ec41f594d6601d610 · sha256:275dc13f7f6bd034… · /containers/cna/affected/0
Provider-owned CVSS observations
1 source assertion{"metric":{"attackComplexity":"LOW","attackVector":"LOCAL","availabilityImpact":"HIGH","baseScore":7.3,"baseSeverity":"HIGH","confidentialityImpact":"HIGH","integrityImpact":"HIGH","privilegesRequired":"LOW","scope":"UNCHANGED","userInteraction":"REQUIRED","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","version":"3.1"},"metric_type":"cvssV3_1"}
- cve_program_cvelist_v5cvssurn:baitaphish:normalized-source-record:v2:3f62f1821caab7b9c3cee45cb1989681f5902593dafb7c5ec41f594d6601d610 · sha256:275dc13f7f6bd034… · /containers/cna/metrics/0/cvssV3_1
CWE assertions
1 source assertion{"cweId":"CWE-367","description":"CWE-367: Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition","lang":"en","type":"CWE"}
- cve_program_cvelist_v5cweurn:baitaphish:normalized-source-record:v2:3f62f1821caab7b9c3cee45cb1989681f5902593dafb7c5ec41f594d6601d610 · sha256:275dc13f7f6bd034… · /containers/cna/problemTypes/0/descriptions/0
Source references
3 source assertions{"name":"https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/commit/460cc5768aa45be07941b9e4ebc9bee02d282873","tags":["x_refsource_MISC"],"url":"https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/commit/460cc5768aa45be07941b9e4ebc9bee02d282873"}
- cve_program_cvelist_v5referenceurn:baitaphish:normalized-source-record:v2:3f62f1821caab7b9c3cee45cb1989681f5902593dafb7c5ec41f594d6601d610 · sha256:275dc13f7f6bd034… · /containers/cna/references/1
{"name":"https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/tag/v4.12_BETA","tags":["x_refsource_MISC"],"url":"https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/tag/v4.12_BETA"}
- cve_program_cvelist_v5referenceurn:baitaphish:normalized-source-record:v2:3f62f1821caab7b9c3cee45cb1989681f5902593dafb7c5ec41f594d6601d610 · sha256:275dc13f7f6bd034… · /containers/cna/references/2
{"name":"https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/security/advisories/GHSA-hcx5-hrhj-xhq9","tags":["x_refsource_CONFIRM"],"url":"https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/security/advisories/GHSA-hcx5-hrhj-xhq9"}
- cve_program_cvelist_v5referenceurn:baitaphish:normalized-source-record:v2:3f62f1821caab7b9c3cee45cb1989681f5902593dafb7c5ec41f594d6601d610 · sha256:275dc13f7f6bd034… · /containers/cna/references/0
Attribution and limitations
- CVE Program CVEList V5: Reproduce the MITRE copyright designation and CVE license in copies. Source →
Provider severity values are preserved separately. Baitaphish does not convert them into a risk rating, infer affected products, or treat EPSS as observed exploitation.