Overview
The cybersecurity environment is continuously evolving with new threats and vulnerabilities emerging daily. One such vulnerability is CVE-2025-20074, a time-of-check, time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability that affects some versions of Intel(R) Connectivity Performance Suite software installers. This vulnerability is of significant concern as it potentially allows an authenticated user to escalate their privileges and gain higher-level access to the system. Furthermore, due to the high impact and the involvement of a well-known software manufacturer, this vulnerability is of particular importance to cybersecurity professionals, system administrators, and organizations using the affected software.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-20074
Severity: High (7.8 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: User
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Intel(R) Connectivity Performance Suite | Before version 40.24.11210
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability is a time-of-check, time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition. This type of vulnerability arises when a system’s state changes between the check of a condition (time of check) and the use of the results of that check (time of use). Specifically, in this case, an authenticated user can exploit the race condition in the software installer to escalate their privileges. With escalated privileges, the user can potentially compromise the system or leak sensitive data.
Conceptual Example Code
Here is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This pseudocode illustrates a possible sequence of events:
//User gains access to the system
Authenticate(user);
//User checks the system state (time of check)
Check(system_state);
//System state changes after the check
Change(system_state);
//User uses the results of the check to escalate privileges (time of use)
Escalate_privileges(user, system_state);In this scenario, the user is able to escalate their privileges because the system state changes after the user checks it but before the privileges are escalated. This is the core of the TOCTOU race condition vulnerability exploited by CVE-2025-20074.
To mitigate the risk associated with this vulnerability, it is strongly recommended that users update their software to version 40.24.11210 or later. If an immediate update is not possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation strategy.
