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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2025-5491

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
Acer ControlCenter contains Remote Code Execution vulnerability. The program exposes a Windows Named Pipe that uses a custom protocol to invoke internal functions. However, this Named Pipe is misconfigured, allowing remote users with low privileges to interact with it and access its features. One such feature enables the execution of arbitrary programs as NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM. By leveraging this, remote attackers can execute arbitrary code on the target system with elevated 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 · high confidence

Acer ControlCenter exposes a Windows Named Pipe with a custom protocol for invoking internal functions. The named pipe is misconfigured, permitting low-privilege remote users to connect and interact with its features. One exposed function allows execution of arbitrary programs with NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM privileges, enabling remote attackers to achieve privilege escalation and execute arbitrary code.

MitigationApply vendor patches from Acer for ControlCenter when available. As an interim measure, restrict network access to systems running Acer ControlCenter and monitor for suspicious processes spawning from the service account.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Confirm Acer ControlCenter installation
    Check for Acer ControlCenter in the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall or look in Program Files for Acer\ControlCenter folder, or query Get-WmiObject Win32_Product for 'Acer ControlCenter'
    Affected if The software is installed and running on the system
  2. Identify installed version
    Right-click the ControlCenter executable (typically in C:\Program Files\Acer\ControlCenter or C:\Program Files (x86)\Acer\ControlCenter), select Properties, and note the File Version under the Details tab; alternatively query the registry key for DisplayVersion
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or falls within any unpatched release range
  3. Verify Named Pipe presence and accessibility
    Open PowerShell and run Get-ChildItem \\.\pipe\ | Where-Object {$_.Name -like '*Acer*' -or $_.Name -like '*ControlCenter*'} to list Acer-related Named Pipes, then use Get-Acl \\.\pipe\<pipe_name> to inspect the security descriptor (ACL)
    Affected if An Acer-related Named Pipe exists and permits access from low-privilege or remote users (check for Everyone, Users, or Authenticated Users with Allow permissions)
  4. Check Named Pipe ACL configuration
    Use a tool like PipeList from Sysinternals (pipelist /acls) or inspect the security descriptor programmatically with PowerShell [System.Security.AccessControl.NativeObjectSecurity]::new() to determine if non-admin accounts can connect
    Affected if The ACL grants connect permissions to less-privileged accounts or anonymous users, allowing remote low-privilege interaction
  5. Validate network exposure
    Review Windows Firewall rules for inbound rules allowing SMB or RPC access to the host, and check for any listening ports associated with ControlCenter using netstat -an | findstr LISTENING or PowerShell Get-NetTCPConnection -State Listen
    Affected if The system is reachable over the network and the Named Pipe service accepts remote procedure calls without proper authentication restrictions

A user is affected if Acer ControlCenter is installed and its Named Pipe is accessible to low-privilege or remote users, allowing unauthorized SYSTEM-privilege code execution.

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

Apply vendor patches from Acer for ControlCenter when available. As an interim measure, restrict network access to systems running Acer ControlCenter and monitor for suspicious processes spawning from the service account.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-5491 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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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