CVE-2026-30332

High

Published: 02 April 2026

Published

02 April 2026

Modified

03 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0001 0.3th percentile

Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-30332 is a high-severity Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (CWE-367) vulnerability in Balena Etcher (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 0.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SI-7 (Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Directly mitigates the TOCTOU vulnerability by requiring timely installation of vendor patches, such as updating Balena Etcher to v2.1.4 or later.

SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity good match

prevent

Enforces integrity checks on scripts and software during transitional states like the flashing process, preventing execution of attacker-replaced payloads in the TOCTOU race window.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

prevent

Limits the scope and impact of privilege escalation from low-privilege local attackers by enforcing least privilege on processes and users.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

TOCTOU race condition explicitly enables local privilege escalation to arbitrary code execution with scope change (T1068).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

A Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in Balena Etcher for Windows prior to v2.1.4 allows attackers to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code via replacing a legitimate script with a crafted payload during the flashing process.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-30332, published on 2026-04-02, is a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability (CWE-367) in Balena Etcher for Windows versions prior to v2.1.4. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H). The issue arises during the flashing process, where attackers can replace a legitimate script with a crafted payload, enabling privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution.

A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability by racing the TOCTOU window during Etcher's script validation and use phases. Exploitation demands high complexity to time the replacement precisely and requires user interaction, such as triggering the flashing operation. Success grants elevated privileges, allowing arbitrary code execution with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and changes the scope to affect the entire system.

Advisories recommend updating to Balena Etcher v2.1.4 or later to mitigate the vulnerability. Additional details are available in the official balena.io security advisory at https://www.balena.io/security, the Etcher GitHub issue tracker at https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/4500, and the CVE disclosure repository at https://github.com/B1tBreaker/CVE-2026-30332.