Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-13961 is a high-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Gendigital (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-54468
Vulnerability Data
Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in TuneupSvc in 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…
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leveraging a TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) attack.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V15.4.2V17.2.6
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
A reference monitor that is always invoked and analyzable structurally eliminates the non-atomic check-then-use pattern underlying TOCTOU.
Proper enforcement of access authorizations on the resolved target resource stops a link from reaching an unintended object.
Least-privilege limits the damage an attacker can cause after following an unintended link.
Process isolation limits the blast radius of a successful TOCTOU exploitation but does not remove the race itself.
Validating file-name inputs can reject or canonicalize names that resolve to links before access occurs.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly require code to validate paths and avoid unsafe link following.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can detect link-following flaws before release.
Secure SDLC practices can mandate link-resolution checks and canonicalization before file access.
Application security requirements can explicitly require safe handling of symbolic links and path traversal.
Secure architecture principles include input validation and safe file-access design patterns.
Secure coding standards directly address canonicalization and symlink attacks during implementation.
Reliable, synchronized time across systems narrows the exploitable window in which a resource state can change between a security check and its use.