CVE-2024-9524
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 · uneditedLink Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in System Speedup Service in Avira Operations GmbH Avira Prime Version 1.1.96.2 on Windows 10 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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Avira Prime's System Speedup Service where an attacker exploits a TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) race condition by creating a symbolic link to manipulate file or directory access paths, allowing execution of arbitrary code in SYSTEM context.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Avira Prime or System Speedup is installedCheck for Avira installation directories (e.g., C:\Program Files\Avira, C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira) or look for 'Avira System Speedup' in Programs and FeaturesAffected if Avira Prime or Avira System Speedup is present on the system
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Identify the System Speedup serviceOpen Services console (services.msc) and locate the Avira System Speedup service, or run 'sc queryex type= service state= all' and filter for 'Avira' or 'System Speedup'Affected if The Avira System Speedup service exists and is running
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Confirm service runs with elevated privilegesRight-click the service in Services console, select Properties, and check the 'Log on as' account - or run 'sc qc "service_name"' and 'sc showsid "service_name"'Affected if Service runs under SYSTEM, LocalSystem, or another high-privilege account
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Check directory permissions for symbolic link creationUse icacls or AccessChk (Sysinternals) on the Avira System Speedup installation directory and any directories it uses for temp/files. Look for permissions allowing non-admin users to create symlinks (SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege or write permissions)Affected if Non-privileged users can create symbolic links in directories used by the System Speedup service
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Audit for existing symbolic links in service directoriesUse 'dir /AL /S C:\Program Files\Avira' or 'Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Program Files\Avira" -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object {$_.LinkType}' to list any symbolic links, junction points, or hard linksAffected if Unexpected symbolic links or junctions exist in Avira service directories pointing to non-standard locations
The environment is affected if Avira Prime System Speedup is installed, the service runs with SYSTEM privileges, and low-privileged users have the ability to create symbolic links in directories accessed by the service.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the vendor patch when available; until then, restrict local user permissions to prevent symbolic link creation and monitor for suspicious link operations targeting Avira service directories.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-9524 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-9524 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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