CVE-2010-5173

Race condition in PC Tools Firewall Plus 6.0.0.88 on Windows XP allows local users to bypass kernel-mode hook handlers, and execute dangerous code that would otherwise be blocked by a handler but not blocked by signature-based malware detection, via certain user-space memory changes during hook-handler execution, aka an argument-switch attack or a KHOBE attack. NOTE: this issue is disputed by some third parties because it is a flaw in a protection mechanism for situations where a crafted program has already begun to execute

Published: 2012-08-25 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2010-5173 is rated Low Risk (24.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2010-5173

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2023-03-07 2.17% 0.04% -2.13%
2 2022-02-04 2.17%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2010-5173

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.2 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
1.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2010-5173

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2010-5173

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
pctools pctools_firewall 6.0.0.88 cpe:2.3:a:pctools:pctools_firewall:6.0.0.88:-:plus:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2010-5173

cvelogic Threat Intelligence