CVE-2026-23988
HIGHDescription
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.
How to fix
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 9% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-367 (TOCTOU Race Condition) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2022-36980 | High | 8.1 | 83% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-30088 | High | 7.0 | 68% | KEV + Ransom | Fix |
| CVE-2004-0594 | Medium | 5.1 | 55% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-50379 | Critical | 9.8 | 44% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2023-38146 | High | 8.8 | 39% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-0132 | Critical | 9.0 | 37% | - | Fix |
Embed a live status badge for CVE-2026-23988
Markdown
[](https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2026-23988)HTML
<a href="https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2026-23988"><img src="https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2026-23988.svg" alt="CVE-2026-23988"></a>Find and fix vulnerabilities across your fleet
TridentStack Control continuously scans your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet for known vulnerabilities, prioritizes them by severity and active exploitation, and patches them automatically.
Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-02-27.