{"id":51211,"date":"2025-06-12T14:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:35:04","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-04T00:32:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T06:32:24","slug":"cve-2024-13960-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-avg-tuneup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-13960-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-avg-tuneup\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2024-13960: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in AVG TuneUp<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving with new threats and vulnerabilities cropping up almost daily. One such vulnerability, CVE-2024-13960, affects users of AVG TuneUp Version 23.4 (build 15592) on Windows 10 operating systems. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4631-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-profitori-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57422\">vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges<\/a> and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM, which can potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage. Given the widespread use of AVG TuneUp, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-3055-critical-arbitrary-file-deletion-vulnerability-in-wp-user-frontend-pro-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59191\">vulnerability presents a significant risk to many users<\/a> and organizations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2024-13960<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.8 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2021-47668-linux-kernel-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise-or-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57554\">Potential system compromise or data<\/a> leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3963844960\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>AVG TuneUp | Version 23.4 (build 15592)<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This exploit takes advantage of a TOCTTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-13959-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-avg-tuneup\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59645\">vulnerability in the TuneUp Service of AVG<\/a> TuneUp. The attacker needs to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-0072-local-non-privileged-user-exploit-in-arm-ltd-gpu-kernel-drivers\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"58214\">local access and user<\/a> interaction to successfully carry out the attack. They create a symbolic link and leverage the TOCTTOU <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-34489-critical-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-gfi-mailessentials\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57553\">vulnerability to escalate privileges<\/a> and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. This allows the attacker to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-22041-linux-kernel-vulnerability-in-ksmbd-sessions-deregister-may-lead-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"57927\">potentially compromise the system<\/a> or cause data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3913936909\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>While a specific exploit code is not presented here for ethical reasons, a conceptual example would involve a local user creating a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1079-client-remote-code-execution-via-improper-symbolic-link-resolution-in-google-web-designer\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59567\">symbolic link<\/a> and utilizing it to exploit the TOCTTOU vulnerability. The steps might look something like this in pseudo code:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\"># Create a symbolic link\ncreate_symlink(&#039;\/path\/to\/vulnerable\/file&#039;, &#039;\/path\/to\/controlled\/location&#039;)\n# Exploit the TOCTTOU vulnerability\nexploit_TOCTTOU(&#039;\/path\/to\/controlled\/location&#039;)<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This is a simplified representation, and the actual exploit would likely involve more complex interactions with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-25180-underprivileged-software-manipulates-gpu-system-calls-for-unauthorized-access\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"88773\">system and the software<\/a>. Nonetheless, this provides a good understanding of the fundamental process behind the exploit.<br \/>\nUnderstanding such vulnerabilities and how they can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1411-exploitation-of-unnecessary-privileges-in-ibm-security-verify-directory-container\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78100\">exploited is crucial for maintaining a secure<\/a> cyber environment. Mitigation strategies for this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49002-critical-vulnerability-in-dataease-bypassing-patch-for-cve-2025-32966\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59192\">vulnerability include applying the vendor patch<\/a> or using WAF\/IDS as temporary mitigation. Stay vigilant, stay updated, and stay secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving with new threats and vulnerabilities cropping up almost daily. One such vulnerability, CVE-2024-13960, affects users of AVG TuneUp Version 23.4 (build 15592) on Windows 10 operating systems. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM, which can potentially lead [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[82],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-51211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-microsoft","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51211"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81583,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51211\/revisions\/81583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=51211"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=51211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}