dbcve.org
Supportassist For Home PcsApplication · Dell

CVE-2025-38738

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.8.2.38851 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
SupportAssist for Home PCs Installer exe version(s) 4.8.2.29006 and prior, contain(s) an Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in the Installer. A low privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to elevation of 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 · moderate confidence

The Dell SupportAssist for Home PCs installer (versions 4.8.2.29006 and prior) contains an Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability. A low-privileged local attacker can exploit this to gain elevated privileges, potentially achieving administrative access to the system.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch or update to a fixed version of SupportAssist for Home PCs when released. Until then, limit local access to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious installer behavior.

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
Supportassist For Home PcsApplication
Affected:< 4.8.2.38851

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. Identify Dell SupportAssist for Home PCs installation
    Open Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell to list installed programs. Look for 'Dell SupportAssist for Home PCs' in the program list.
    Affected if Dell SupportAssist for Home PCs is installed on the system
  2. Determine the installed version number
    In the Apps & features list, click on Dell SupportAssist for Home PCs to reveal the version number. Alternatively, navigate to C:\Program Files\Dell\SupportAssist and locate the version info in the main executable's properties, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*SupportAssist*"}' to query the registry.
    Affected if The displayed version is 4.8.2.29006 or any version prior to 4.8.2.38851
  3. Confirm version falls within vulnerable range
    Compare your installed version number against the affected range: versions 4.8.2.29006 and prior are vulnerable. Any version below 4.8.2.38851 should be considered affected.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 4.8.2.38851 (for example, 4.8.2.29006, 4.8.1.x, 4.7.x, etc.)
  4. Verify SupportAssist services running with elevated privileges
    Open Services (services.msc) and check if Dell SupportAssist services are running under SYSTEM or Administrator accounts. Also review any recent scheduled tasks related to SupportAssist installer by running 'Get-ScheduledTask | Where-Object {$_.TaskPath -like "*SupportAssist*"}' in PowerShell.
    Affected if SupportAssist services run with elevated privileges and the installed version is vulnerable

A user is affected if Dell SupportAssist for Home PCs is installed and the version number is 4.8.2.29006 or any version prior to 4.8.2.38851.

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 4.8.2.38851 or later
Fixed in 4.8.2.38851
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patch or update to a fixed version of SupportAssist for Home PCs when released. Until then, limit local access to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious installer behavior.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

4.8.2.38851 or later

  1. Check the current version of SupportAssist for Home PCs by opening the application and navigating to Settings > About, or by viewing it in Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features) in Windows Control Panel
  2. Download the latest version of SupportAssist for Home PCs from the official Dell support website (support.dell.com) or through the Dell SupportAssist update mechanism
  3. Run the downloaded installer or use the built-in update feature to upgrade SupportAssist to version 4.8.2.38851 or later
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version number again in the application or in Windows Programs and Features

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

Fix this in Supportassist For Home Pcs Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-38738 — 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-2025-38738 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