CVE-2025-22394
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 · uneditedDell Display Manager, versions prior to 2.3.2.18, contain a Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition vulnerability. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to code execution and possibly privilege escalation.
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 confidenceDell Display Manager versions prior to 2.3.2.18 contain a TOCTOU race condition vulnerability. An attacker with local access and low privileges can exploit the time gap between security checks and resource usage to achieve arbitrary code execution, potentially escalating to higher privileges.
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< 2.3.2.20CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 Dell Display Manager is installedCheck for the application in Windows Add/Remove Programs, or look for Dell Display Manager in Program Files or Program Files (x86) directories. The executable is typically named DDMSystemTray.exe or similar Dell Display Manager components.Affected if Dell Display Manager is found on the system
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Identify the installed versionRight-click the main executable (often in C:\Program Files\Dell\Dell Display Manager or C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\Dell Display Manager), select Properties, and check the Details tab for the File Version. Alternatively, open PowerShell and run: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Dell Display Manager*'} | Select-Object DisplayVersionAffected if The version displayed is less than 2.3.2.20
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Confirm the vulnerability appliesThe TOCTOU race condition is exploitable when the application is running with elevated privileges while allowing low-privilege users to interact with it. Check if Dell Display Manager runs as a service or with administrator privileges (right-click the process in Task Manager, go to Details, check if it runs under SYSTEM or an administrator account).Affected if Dell Display Manager runs with elevated privileges and low-privilege local users have access to interact with the application
A system is affected if Dell Display Manager version 2.3.2.20 or later is NOT installed, and the application runs with elevated privileges while accessible to low-privilege local users.
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.
dbcve · scoped2.3.2.20
Upgrade Dell Display Manager to version 2.3.2.18 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict local user access to the application and monitor for suspicious process activity.
Dell Display Manager 2.3.2.20 or later
- Check current Dell Display Manager version (typically via About or Help menu in the application)
- Navigate to Dell support website (www.dell.com) and search for Dell Display Manager
- Locate and download Dell Display Manager version 2.3.2.20 or later
- Close any running instances of Dell Display Manager
- Run the installer and follow on-screen prompts to upgrade
- Restart the system if prompted by the installer
- Verify the installed version shows 2.3.2.20 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-22394 — 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-2025-22394 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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