Altera Quartus Prime Standard Edition Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

A privilege escalation vulnerability has been identified in Altera Quartus Prime Standard Edition Design Software, specifically in versions prior to 23.1.1. The issue arises in the System Console Utility for Windows, which is vulnerable to a DLL planting attack when the Quartus Prime Programmer and Tools package is installed independently, outside of a complete Quartus Prime Standard Edition installation. This vulnerability is not present in the Linux version or when the full Quartus Prime Standard edition is installed.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized privilege escalation within the Quartus Prime Standard Edition environment.

Remediation

Users can upgrade to Quartus Prime Standard Edition version 24.1 or later. Alternatively, the full Quartus Standard version can be installed to use the System Console Utility.