CVE-2025-14596

Privilege escalation via SFX binary planting

Published Jan 6, 2026 · Updated Jan 6, 2026

Uncontrolled search path handling in Altera Quartus Prime Pro Edition Installer 24.1 through 24.3.1 allows local users to escalate privileges. The Windows SFX installer extracts files to TEMP and launches its installer while permitting a planted binary to be selected through its search order. Exploitation requires low local privileges, high complexity, and active user interaction; Linux and individual installer files are unaffected.

CVSS severity6.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.11%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Uncontrolled search path handling in Altera Quartus Prime Pro Edition Installer 24.1 through 24.3.1 allows local users to escalate privileges. The Windows SFX installer extracts files to TEMP and launches its installer while permitting a planted binary to be selected through its search order. Exploitation requires low local privileges, high complexity, and active user interaction; Linux and individual installer files are unaffected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-14596
Published
Jan 6, 2026
Updated
Jan 6, 2026
Vendor
Altera
Product
Quartus Prime Pro Edition
Classifications
CWE-427, T1574
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 6, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 6, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=24.1 <=24.3.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Altera · Quartus Prime Pro Editionversion=24.1 <=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
T1574Hijack Execution Flow

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

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo