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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2024-21966

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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
A DLL hijacking vulnerability in the AMD Ryzen™ Master Utility could allow an attacker to achieve privilege escalation, potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution.

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 · moderate confidence

A DLL hijacking vulnerability exists in the AMD Ryzen Master Utility where the application loads Dynamic Link Libraries from an insecure location or without proper path validation. An attacker who can place a malicious DLL in a location from which the utility loads DLLs can cause the application to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the running user, potentially achieving privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch for AMD Ryzen Master Utility when available. In the interim, restrict write access to directories in the application's DLL search path and ensure the application runs with only strictly necessary privileges.

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 AMD Ryzen Master is installed
    Check for the presence of AMD Ryzen Master in the system. Common installation paths include C:\Program Files\AMD\RyzenMaster or C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD\RyzenMaster. Also check the Windows Programs and Features list.
    Affected if AMD Ryzen Master Utility is found installed on the system
  2. Identify installed version
    Locate the executable (typically RyzenMaster.exe) and check its file properties for the version number, or look in the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\AMD\RyzenMaster or HKLM\SOFTWARE\AMD\RyzenMaster for the installed version.
    Affected if The installed version matches or precedes the version that AMD has patched for this vulnerability (compare against AMD's official security advisory)
  3. Examine application directory permissions
    Right-click the AMD Ryzen Master installation folder, go to Properties, then the Security tab. Check which users have Write or Modify permissions to the folder and its subfolders.
    Affected if Any non-admin user or group has Write or Modify access to directories from which the application loads DLLs
  4. Identify writable locations in DLL search path
    Use Sysinternals Process Monitor or similar tool to monitor RyzenMaster.exe for DLL load operations. Identify any directories in the search path that are writable by standard users (including the application directory, system temp folders, or user-profile directories).
    Affected if The application loads DLLs from any directory that standard users can write to, enabling DLL hijacking
  5. Check for unexpected DLLs in application path
    List all DLL files in the AMD Ryzen Master installation directory and compare against expected DLLs documented by AMD. Look for any recently added or unfamiliar DLLs.
    Affected if Unexpected or unsigned DLLs are present in directories from which the application loads libraries

If AMD Ryzen Master Utility is installed and there are writable directories in its DLL search path where an attacker could place a malicious DLL, the environment is likely affected by this 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

Apply the vendor-supplied patch for AMD Ryzen Master Utility when available. In the interim, restrict write access to directories in the application's DLL search path and ensure the application runs with only strictly necessary privileges.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2024-21966 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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