CVE-2024-29188

Malicious directory junction can cause WiX RemoveFoldersEx to possibly delete elevated files

HIGH
7.9
CVSS Score
Published: March 24, 2024 at 07:46 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 07:22 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorWiX Toolset

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Severity
HIGH7.9
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

WiX toolset lets developers create installers for Windows Installer, the Windows installation engine. The custom action behind WiX's `RemoveFolderEx` functionality could allow a standard user to delete protected directories. `RemoveFolderEx` deletes an entire directory tree during installation or uninstallation. It does so by recursing every subdirectory starting at a specified directory and adding each subdirectory to the list of directories Windows Installer should delete. If the setup author instructed `RemoveFolderEx` to delete a per-user folder from a per-machine installer, an attacker could create a directory junction in that per-user folder pointing to a per-machine, protected directory. Windows Installer, when executing the per-machine installer after approval by an administrator, would delete the target of the directory junction. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.14.1 and 4.0.5.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 3.14.1v < 4.0.5
Affected range stops below 3.14.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.0.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-59

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