CVE-2026-23988

HIGHNVD 7.07.0—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This high-severity CVE scores 7.0 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.2%, top 91% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
Elevated
7.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.0Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives. Versions 4.11 and below contain a race condition (TOCTOU) in src/net.c during the creation, validation, and execution of the Fido PowerShell script. Since Rufus runs with elevated privileges (Administrator) but writes the script to the %TEMP% directory (writeable by standard users) without locking the file, a local attacker can replace the legitimate script with a malicious one between the file write operation and the execution step. This allows arbitrary code execution with Administrator privileges. This issue has been fixed in version 4.12_BETA.

CVSS v3
7.0
EG Score
7.0(medium)
EG Risk
48(Track*)
EG Risk 48/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity70% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
11%
KEV
Not listed

Published

January 22, 2026

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 6, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github_commit, github.
github Patch Available🟡 PoC Available

Local Privilege Escalation via TOCTOU Race Condition in Fido Script Handling · Advisory · pbatard/rufus · GitHub

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/security/advisories/GHSA-hcx5-hrhj-xhq9
github_commit

commit 460cc5768aa4 (pbatard/rufus)

Fix landed in pbatard/rufus commit 460cc5768aa4 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/commit/460cc5768aa45be07941b9e4ebc9bee02d282873

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 25× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 155 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-19 21:51 UTCOSV refresh
  2. 2026-09-18 19:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-16 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-08-19 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
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  22. 2026-08-02 22:21 UTCEG score recompute▼ 0.30
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  25. 2026-07-31 09:12 UTCOSV refresh
  26. 2026-07-30 01:30 UTCEPSS rescore
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  53. 2026-07-13 16:38 UTCOSV refresh
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  74. 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore

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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-23988?
CVE-2026-23988 is a high vulnerability published on January 22, 2026. Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives. Versions 4.11 and below contain a race condition (TOCTOU) in src/net.c during the creation, validation, and execution of the Fido PowerShell script. Since Rufus runs with elevated privileges (Administrator) but writes the…
When was CVE-2026-23988 disclosed?
CVE-2026-23988 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on January 22, 2026, with the most recent update on June 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-23988 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-23988 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 88.6% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-23988?
CVE-2026-23988 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.0 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-23988?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-23988, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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