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CWE-426Weakness · CWE-426

CVE-2025-4455

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A vulnerability was found in Patch My PC Home Updater up to 5.1.3.0. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing in the library advapi32.dll/BCrypt.dll/comctl32.dll/crypt32.dll/dwmapi.dll/gdi32.dll/gdiplus.dll/imm32.dll/iphlpapi.dll/kernel32.dll/mscms.dll/msctf.dll/ntdll.dll/ole32.dll/oleaut32.dll/PresentationNative_cor3.dll/secur32.dll/shcore.dll/shell32.dll/sspicli.dll/System.IO. The manipulation leads to uncontrolled search path. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. The complexity of an attack is rather high. The exploitation is known to be difficult. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

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

DLL hijacking vulnerability in Patch My PC Home Updater up to v5.1.3.0 allows local attackers to inject malicious DLLs via uncontrolled search path when the application loads system DLLs (kernel32.dll, advapi32.dll, etc.) from insecure locations.

MitigationRestrict file system permissions to prevent unauthorized DLL placement in directories accessible by the application; monitor for suspicious DLLs in application directories; update Patch My PC when vendor releases a fix.

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Patch My PC Home Updater installation
    Search for the application executable (PatchMyPC.exe or similar) in common installation locations: C:\Program Files\Patch My PC, C:\Program Files (x86)\Patch My PC, or check Start Menu for the application
    Affected if The application is found on the system
  2. Determine installed version
    Right-click the executable, select Properties, then view the Details tab for the Product Version field; alternatively, right-click the application in Programs and Features and select Properties to view version
    Affected if Installed version is 5.1.3.0 or lower (any version up to and including 5.1.3.0)
  3. Check application directory for unauthorized write access
    Right-click the folder containing the Patch My PC executable, select Properties, then Security tab; examine permissions for Users or Everyone groups to see if they have Write or Modify permissions
    Affected if Non-admin users or groups have Write or Modify permissions to the application directory
  4. Scan application directory for unexpected DLLs
    Open the Patch My PC installation folder and list all .dll files present; compare against known Windows system DLLs (kernel32.dll, advapi32.dll, user32.dll, gdi32.dll, etc.) that should NOT exist there
    Affected if Any system DLLs (kernel32.dll, advapi32.dll, user32.dll, etc.) are found in the application directory rather than in C:\Windows\System32

User is affected if Patch My PC Home Updater version 5.1.3.0 or lower is installed AND non-admin users have Write access to the application directory OR suspicious DLLs are present in the application directory.

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

Restrict file system permissions to prevent unauthorized DLL placement in directories accessible by the application; monitor for suspicious DLLs in application directories; update Patch My PC when vendor releases a fix.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-4455 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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