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Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2025-9968

HIGH · 8.5 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-10-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
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
A link following vulnerability exists in the UnifyScanner component of Armoury Crate. This vulnerability may be triggered by creating a specially crafted junction, potentially leading to local privilege escalation. For more information, please refer to section 'Security Update for Armoury Crate App' in the ASUS Security Advisory.

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

A link following vulnerability exists in the UnifyScanner component of Armoury Crate, allowing a specially crafted junction to be followed, potentially leading to local privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the ASUS security update for Armoury Crate when released, or disable the UnifyScanner component if possible while awaiting the patch.

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
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/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 checks

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

  1. Verify Armoury Crate is installed
    Check for Armoury Crate installation directory at C:\Program Files\ASUS\Armoury Crate or C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\Armoury Crate, or look for Armoury Crate in Programs and Features
    Affected if Armoury Crate is present on the system
  2. Identify installed Armoury Crate version
    Open Programs and Features, locate Armoury Crate, and note the version column; alternatively, check the version info of the main executable in the Armoury Crate installation folder
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected version range (compare against CVE-2025-9968 affected versions)
  3. Locate UnifyScanner component
    Check for UnifyScanner service or executable within the Armoury Crate installation directory, typically in a subfolder such as Service or UnifyScanner
    Affected if UnifyScanner component files exist on the system
  4. Verify UnifyScanner service status
    Open Services (services.msc) and look for a service named UnifyScanner or similar ASUS Unify service, or check Task Manager for related running processes
    Affected if The UnifyScanner service is installed and running
  5. Inspect for suspicious junction points
    Examine the Armoury Crate installation directory and related folders (especially in %PROGRAMDATA%\ASUS or %LOCALAPPDATA%\ASUS) for any unexpected junction points or symbolic links that may have been created
    Affected if Unexpected or attacker-created junction points exist in Armoury Crate directories

The system is affected if Armoury Crate with a vulnerable version is installed and the UnifyScanner component is present and enabled, particularly if unexpected junction points are found in related directories.

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 the ASUS security update for Armoury Crate when released, or disable the UnifyScanner component if possible while awaiting the patch.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,770
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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-2025-9968 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data