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Pc Settings ToolApplication · Nec

CVE-2023-25011

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.0.22.0 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
PC settings tool Ver10.1.26.0 and earlier, PC settings tool Ver11.0.22.0 and earlier allows a attacker to write to the registry as administrator privileges with standard user privileges.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The PC settings tool versions 10.1.26.0 and earlier, as well as 11.0.22.0 and earlier, contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where a standard (non-privileged) user can write to the Windows registry with administrator privileges. This allows attackers to potentially modify system registry keys that should require elevated permissions.

MitigationUpgrade to the patched versions (Ver10.1.26.1 or Ver11.0.22.1) as supplied by the vendor to remediate this privilege escalation vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Pc Settings ToolApplication
Affected:>= 10.0.0.0, <= 10.1.26.0>= 11.0.0.0, <= 11.0.22.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify if Nec PC Settings Tool is installed
    Check for the product in Windows Add or Remove Programs (appwiz.cpl), or look for the installation directory typically under C:\Program Files\Nec\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Nec\
    Affected if The product appears in installed programs or the directory exists on the system
  2. Locate the executable to determine version
    Find the main executable file (commonly named PCSettings.exe or similar nec related settings tool) in the installation directory
    Affected if The executable file exists on the system
  3. Retrieve the installed version number
    Right-click the executable, select Properties, then view the Details tab for the Version information, or use PowerShell: Get-Item 'C:\Program Files\Nec\<path>\PCSettings.exe' | Select-Object VersionInfo
    Affected if A version number is displayed in the file properties
  4. Compare version against affected ranges
    Match the retrieved version against these ranges: 10.0.0.0 through 10.1.26.0 OR 11.0.0.0 through 11.0.22.0. Note that versions 10.1.26.1 and 11.0.22.1 are patched.
    Affected if The installed version falls within 10.0.0.0 to 10.1.26.0 or 11.0.0.0 to 11.0.22.0 inclusive

The system is affected if Nec PC Settings Tool is installed and its version is 10.1.26.0 or earlier (for v10) or 11.0.22.0 or earlier (for v11), because these versions allow a standard user to modify registry keys with elevated privileges.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 11.0.22.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to the patched versions (Ver10.1.26.1 or Ver11.0.22.1) as supplied by the vendor to remediate this privilege escalation vulnerability.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

PC Settings Tool version 10.1.27.0 or later; or version 11.0.23.0 or later (depending on which version line is in use)

  1. Identify the currently installed PC Settings Tool version by checking the application properties or using system inventory tools.
  2. Determine which version line (10.x or 11.x) is currently in use.
  3. For systems running PC Settings Tool version 10.0.0.0 through 10.1.26.0: upgrade to version 10.1.27.0 or later.
  4. For systems running PC Settings Tool version 11.0.0.0 through 11.0.22.0: upgrade to version 11.0.23.0 or later.
  5. Obtain the upgrade package from the official NEC vendor source at jpn.nec.com or through authorized NEC distribution channels.
  6. Apply the upgrade following standard NEC software deployment procedures for the PC Settings Tool.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Pc Settings Tool Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-25011 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data