CVE-2025-40979
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 · uneditedDLL search order hijacking vulnerability in the wave.exe executable for Windows 11, version 1.27.8. Exploitation of this vulnerability could allow attackers with local access to execute arbitrary code by placing an arbitrary file in the 'C:\Users<user>\AppData\Local\Temp' directory, which could lead to arbitrary code execution and persistence. This vulnerability is only replicable in versions of Windows 11 and does not affect earlier versions.
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 confidenceDLL search order hijacking vulnerability in wave.exe version 1.27.8 on Windows 11 allows local attackers to place malicious DLLs in the user's Temp directory (C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp). The application insecurely loads DLLs from the current working directory before checking system paths, enabling arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the running user.
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
- Authentication
- X
- User interaction
- P
- Scope
- X
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
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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Locate wave.exe and determine installed versionOpen Command Prompt and run 'where wave.exe' to find the executable, then right-click the file, select Properties, and check the Version tab for the file version. Alternatively, run 'wave.exe -v' if supported.Affected if The installed version is 1.27.8 exactly
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Identify the typical working directory when launching wave.exeLaunch wave.exe and observe the current working directory shown in Command Prompt (if launched from there) or use Task Manager to view the process command line and working directory. Check if it commonly runs from or references the user's Temp folder (C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp).Affected if The current working directory is set to the user's Temp directory or a directory writable by other local users
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Check for pre-existing DLLs in the working directoryUse File Explorer to navigate to the directory where wave.exe is typically launched from (especially the Temp directory C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp) and list all DLL files present. Run 'dir C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\*.dll' in Command Prompt.Affected if Any unexpected or unrecognized DLL files exist in the working directory or Temp folder
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Verify write permissions on the working directoryRight-click the directory where wave.exe is launched from (particularly the Temp folder), select Properties, go to the Security tab, and review which users have Write or Modify permissions.Affected if Users other than the owner or untrusted users have Write or Modify permissions to the launch directory
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Observe DLL loading behavior during executionUse Sysinternals Process Monitor (procmon.exe), set a filter for Process Name is wave.exe and Operation is Load Image, then run wave.exe. Look for DLL loads from the current working directory or Temp path.Affected if wave.exe loads DLLs from the current working directory or Temp directory instead of only from system paths
A user is affected if wave.exe version 1.27.8 is installed and the application runs with its working directory set to or has access to a writable location like the user's Temp folder where malicious DLLs could be placed.
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 dataDeploy wave.exe from a secure directory with safe DLL search mode enabled (SetDllDirectory or SAFE_DLL_SEARCH_MODE), remove unnecessary write permissions to Temp directories for untrusted users, and update to a patched version when available.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-40979 — 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-2025-40979 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data