dbcve.org
Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2024-13961

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
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 leveraging a TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) attack.

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

A link following and TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) race condition vulnerability in Avast Cleanup Premium's TuneupSvc service allows local attackers to escalate privileges to SYSTEM context by creating symbolic links to manipulate file operations during the vulnerable time window.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version of Avast Cleanup Premium when available; alternatively, disable or remove the TuneupSvc service until a patch is released.

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

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 TuneupSvc service presence
    Open Services.msc and look for 'TuneupSvc' or run: sc query TuneupSvc
    Affected if The TuneupSvc service exists on the system (vulnerable service is installed)
  2. Check TuneupSvc service status
    Run: sc query TuneupSvc or Get-Service TuneupSvc in PowerShell
    Affected if The service is running (active and exploitable when running)
  3. Locate Avast Cleanup Premium version
    Check registry: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Avast\Cleanup (or check Add/Remove Programs for version), or locate the main executable in Program Files
    Affected if Unable to confirm a patched version is installed (version is unknown or falls within vulnerable range)
  4. Identify TuneupSvc executable path
    Run: sc qc TuneupSvc to find the binary path, or check: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TuneupSvc\ImagePath
    Affected if The service points to a TuneupSvc executable in an Avast Cleanup Premium installation directory

The system is affected if TuneupSvc service exists and is running, and the installed Avast Cleanup Premium version has not been patched to address the race condition vulnerability.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to a patched version of Avast Cleanup Premium when available; alternatively, disable or remove the TuneupSvc service until a patch is released.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $7,060
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,296.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-13961 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-13961 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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