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Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2026-15684

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2026-07-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
5 weeks old

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
Glarysoft Glary Utilities Link Following Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Glarysoft Glary Utilities. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the Disk Clean functionality. By creating a junction, an attacker can abuse the service to delete arbitrary files. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-27004.

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

This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Glarysoft Glary Utilities' Disk Clean feature. Attackers with low-privileged code execution can create a Windows junction (symbolic link) to trick the Disk Clean service into deleting arbitrary files, potentially overwriting sensitive system files to escalate to SYSTEM context and execute arbitrary code.

MitigationApply the vendor patch from Glarysoft when available, or consider removing Glary Utilities if no patch is forthcoming; prioritize remediation on systems where low-privileged code execution is plausible.

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
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 Glary Utilities installation
    Check for Glary Utilities installation in common paths: C:\Program Files\Glarysoft\Glary Utilities, C:\Program Files (x86)\Glarysoft\Glary Utilities, or look in Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'Glary Utilities'
    Affected if Glary Utilities is not found on the system (not affected)
  2. Identify installed version
    Locate the version information in the installation folder (typically in a version.dll, version.txt, or the main executable properties) or via the Windows Registry uninstall entry
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or is older than the patched version (assume affected if unpatched)
  3. Verify Disk Clean feature presence
    Check if the Disk Clean feature module exists in the installation directory (look for modules or plugins related to 'Disk Clean', 'diskclean', or 'junk' cleanup functionality)
    Affected if Disk Clean feature is present in the installation (potential attack surface exists)
  4. Inspect for junction point abuse
    Examine temporary directories or folders used by the Disk Clean feature for unexpected junction points. Run 'dir /AL /S C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Temp' or equivalent to list any symbolic links/junctions that may have been created
    Affected if Unexpected junction points exist pointing to sensitive system directories (indicates potential exploitation)
  5. Review service configuration
    Check Windows services for any Glary Utilities service related to disk cleaning (look in Services.msc or via 'sc query' for Glary-related services)
    Affected if A Disk Clean service runs with elevated privileges (vulnerable configuration)

The system is affected if Glary Utilities with Disk Clean feature is installed and the version is unpatched, especially if a Glary disk cleanup service runs with elevated privileges.

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 vendor patch from Glarysoft when available, or consider removing Glary Utilities if no patch is forthcoming; prioritize remediation on systems where low-privileged code execution is plausible.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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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-2026-15684 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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