CVE-2025-53919
📋 TL;DR
The Portrait Dell Color Management application creates a temporary folder with weak permissions during installation/uninstallation, allowing local low-privileged attackers to write malicious files that could lead to privilege escalation. This affects users of Dell monitors running the vulnerable software version. Attackers need local access to the system to exploit this vulnerability.
💻 Affected Systems
- Portrait Dell Color Management application
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Full system compromise through privilege escalation to SYSTEM/root level, allowing complete control over the affected machine.
Likely Case
Local attacker gains administrative privileges on the workstation, enabling installation of malware, data theft, or lateral movement within the network.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper user privilege separation and endpoint protection that detects suspicious file writes to temporary directories.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires local access and knowledge of the vulnerable temporary folder location. Attackers need to time their exploit during installation/uninstallation processes.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Version after 3.3.008
Vendor Advisory: https://www.portrait.com/dell-security-cve-updates/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Visit https://www.portrait.com/dell-security-cve-updates/ 2. Download the latest version of Portrait Dell Color Management 3. Uninstall the current version 4. Install the updated version 5. Restart the system
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Remove vulnerable software
windowsUninstall Portrait Dell Color Management if not required for monitor functionality
Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program > Select 'Portrait Dell Color Management' > Uninstall
Restrict temporary folder permissions
windowsManually set proper permissions on the temporary folder created during installation
icacls "C:\Path\To\Temp\Folder" /inheritance:r /grant:r "SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F" "Administrators:(OI)(CI)F" /deny "Users:(OI)(CI)(W)"
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement least privilege principles - ensure users don't have local admin rights
- Use application control/whitelisting to prevent unauthorized executables from running
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check installed programs for 'Portrait Dell Color Management' and verify version is 3.3.008 or earlierCheck Version:
wmic product where name="Portrait Dell Color Management" get versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify installed version is newer than 3.3.008 and check that temporary folder permissions are properly restricted📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Windows Event Logs showing file creation in temporary directories during software installation/uninstallation
- Security logs showing privilege escalation attempts
Network Indicators:
- No network indicators - this is a local exploit
SIEM Query:
EventID=4688 AND (ProcessName LIKE '%install%' OR ProcessName LIKE '%uninstall%') AND CommandLine LIKE '%Portrait%' AND NewProcessName='cmd.exe'