CVE-2025-13668

Local privilege escalation via qcmd.bat DLL planting

Published Dec 11, 2025 · Updated Dec 11, 2025

DLL search-order hijacking in Altera Quartus Prime Pro 17.0 through 24.3.1 allows local users to elevate privileges on Windows. The obsolete Original Design Space Explorer file quartus\bin64\qcmd.bat permits Windows to load an attacker-planted DLL from its current working directory ahead of the intended library. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access, attacker-controlled directory contents, and user interaction; Design Space Explorer II and Linux are unaffected.

CVSS severity5.4
Medium
EPSS probability0.11%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

DLL search-order hijacking in Altera Quartus Prime Pro 17.0 through 24.3.1 allows local users to elevate privileges on Windows. The obsolete Original Design Space Explorer file quartus\bin64\qcmd.bat permits Windows to load an attacker-planted DLL from its current working directory ahead of the intended library. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access, attacker-controlled directory contents, and user interaction; Design Space Explorer II and Linux are unaffected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-13668
Published
Dec 11, 2025
Updated
Dec 11, 2025
Vendor
Altera
Product
Quartus Prime Pro Edition
Classifications
CWE-427, CAPEC-471, T1574.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 11, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Dec 11, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=17.0 <=24.3.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Altera · Quartus Prime Pro Editionversion=17.0 <=24.3.1

Published CVSS scores

6.7AlteraCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
5.4AlteraCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-427Uncontrolled Search Path Element
CAPEC-471Search Order Hijacking
T1574.001DLL Search Order Hijacking

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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