Home Updater: Untrusted Search Path
CVE-2025-4455 is a high-severity untrusted search path vulnerability in Home Updater from Patch My PC, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.0 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. Affected Home Updater versions: 5.1.0; 5.1.1; 5.1.2, and others listed below. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.28% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Check which version of Home Updater you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patch My PC | Home Updater | 5.1.0; 5.1.1; 5.1.2; 5.1.3.0 | Not stated |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
- Attack complexity
- HighSuccess depends on conditions outside the attacker's control.
- Privileges required
- LowA basic user account is enough.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (vuldb.com).
| Scoring system | Score | Severity | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 4.0 | 7.3 | High | CNA (vuldb.com) |
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.0 | High | CNA (vuldb.com) |
| CVSS 2.0 | 6.0 | Medium | CNA (vuldb.com) |
Official description
A vulnerability was found in Patch My PC Home Updater up to 5.1.3.0. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing in the library advapi32.dll/BCrypt.dll/comctl32.dll/crypt32.dll/dwmapi.dll/gdi32.dll/gdiplus.dll/imm32.dll/iphlpapi.dll/kernel32.dll/mscms.dll/msctf.dll/ntdll.dll/ole32.dll/oleaut32.dll/PresentationNative_cor3.dll/secur32.dll/shcore.dll/shell32.dll/sspicli.dll/System.IO. The manipulation leads to uncontrolled search path. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. The complexity of an attack is rather high. The exploitation is known to be difficult. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Untrusted Search Path
The product searches for critical resources using an externally-supplied search path that can point to resources that are not under the product's direct control.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Hard-code the search path to a set of known-safe values (such as system directories), or only allow them to be specified by the administrator in a configuration file. Do not allow these settings to be modified by an external party. Be careful to avoid related weaknesses such as CWE-426 and CWE-428.
- When invoking other programs, specify those programs using fully-qualified pathnames. While this is an effective approach, code that uses fully-qualified pathnames might not be portable to other systems that do not use the same pathnames. The portability can be improved by locating the full-qualified paths in a centralized, easily-modifiable location within the source code, and having the code refer to these paths.
- Remove or restrict all environment settings before invoking other programs. This includes the PATH environment variable, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and other settings that identify the location of code libraries, and any application-specific search paths.
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other references
Recent Untrusted Search Path vulnerabilities
- 7.0 High severity
- 9.1 Critical severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.0 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
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