CVE-2024-13944: Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in NortonUtilitiesSvc in Norton Utilities Ultimate (Also affects Avast CleanUp and AVG TuneUp)

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-05-09 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-59

Description

Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in NortonUtilitiesSvc in Norton Utilities Ultimate Version 24.2.16862.6344 on Windows 10 Pro x64 allows local attackers to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM via the creation of a symbolic link and leveraging a TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) attack.

Affected products

Avast CleanUp: through 24.3.17165.19178
AVG TuneUp: through 24.3.17165.10564
Norton Utilities Ultimate: through 24.3.17165.6812

References

https://www.gendigital.com/us/en/contact-us/security-advisories/

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