Foxit PDF Editor and Foxit PDF Reader installers run with elevated privileges but use untrusted search paths that may include user-writable directories. This flaw allows a local attacker to place malicious binaries with the same names as system executables or DLLs; during installation those binaries will be loaded or executed instead of the legitimate files, leading to local privilege escalation. The weakness is an Untrusted Search Path (CWE‑426).

The affected vendor is Foxit Software Inc. and the impacted products are Foxit PDF Editor and Foxit PDF Reader. Specific affected versions are not disclosed; all installed versions of these products should be considered potentially vulnerable until an official update is applied.

The CVSS score for this vulnerability is 7.3, indicating high risk. EPSS data is not available and the vulnerability is not listed in KEV. Exploitation requires the attacker to have local file‑write access to directories that the installer checks; once malicious files are placed in those locations, privilege escalation can occur without additional user interaction. Based on the description, the likely attack vector is a local attacker with write permissions on the target system.