CVE-2026-23988

High

Description

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.

SeverityHigh
CVSS7.3
Exploit probability—
ProductAkeo Rufus
PublishedJan 22, 2026
First seenJan 22, 2026
Weakness typeCWE-367CWE-367

How to fix

Update
  • akeo rufus4.12 or later

Affected products

ProductAffected versionsFixed in
akeo rufusv < 4.124.12

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CVE-2026-23988 · Akeo Rufus · Dark Radar