diff --git a/bundles/com.espressif.idf.core/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/util/ToolsUtility.java b/bundles/com.espressif.idf.core/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/util/ToolsUtility.java
index 065c71759..de12aafc5 100644
--- a/bundles/com.espressif.idf.core/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/util/ToolsUtility.java
+++ b/bundles/com.espressif.idf.core/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/util/ToolsUtility.java
@@ -6,9 +6,15 @@
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.InvalidPathException;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Platform;
 
@@ -25,12 +31,96 @@
  */
 public class ToolsUtility
 {
+	private static final Pattern IDF_VERSION_MAJOR_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("IDF_VERSION_MAJOR\\s+(\\d+)"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+	private static final Pattern IDF_VERSION_MINOR_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("IDF_VERSION_MINOR\\s+(\\d+)"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+	private static final Pattern IDF_VERSION_PATCH_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("IDF_VERSION_PATCH\\s+(\\d+)"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+
+	/**
+	 * Detects the ESP-IDF version for the given installation.
+	 * <p>
+	 * Prefers the full {@code MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH} read directly from {@code tools/cmake/version.cmake}
+	 * under the installation's {@code IDF_PATH}. This is intentionally not derived from the
+	 * {@code ESP_IDF_VERSION} environment variable: ESP-IDF and EIM define that variable as
+	 * {@code MAJOR.MINOR} only (components consume it in Kconfig, e.g. {@code Kconfig.idf_v5.5.in}), so
+	 * it never carries the patch component. When {@code version.cmake} cannot be read, falls back to the
+	 * {@code ESP_IDF_VERSION} value printed by the activation script.
+	 */
 	public static String getIdfVersion(EimInstallationModel installation)
 	{
+		String versionFromCMake = readIdfVersionFromCMake(installation.getPath());
+		if (!StringUtil.isEmpty(versionFromCMake))
+		{
+			return versionFromCMake;
+		}
+
 		return installation.getActivationScript().map(ToolsUtility::readIdfVersionFromScript)
 				.orElse(StringUtil.EMPTY);
 	}
 
+	private static String readIdfVersionFromCMake(String idfPath)
+	{
+		if (StringUtil.isEmpty(idfPath))
+		{
+			return StringUtil.EMPTY;
+		}
+
+		try
+		{
+			Path versionCMakeFile = Path.of(idfPath, "tools", "cmake", "version.cmake"); //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$ //$NON-NLS-3$
+			return parseVersionCMake(versionCMakeFile);
+
+		}
+		catch (InvalidPathException e)
+		{
+			Logger.log(e);
+			return StringUtil.EMPTY;
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Parses {@code version.cmake} and returns {@code MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH} (or {@code MAJOR.MINOR} when
+	 * the patch entry is absent). Returns an empty string when the file is missing or the required
+	 * major/minor entries cannot be found.
+	 */
+	public static String parseVersionCMake(Path versionCMakeFile)
+	{
+		if (versionCMakeFile == null || !Files.isRegularFile(versionCMakeFile))
+		{
+			return StringUtil.EMPTY;
+		}
+
+		try
+		{
+			String content = Files.readString(versionCMakeFile);
+			String major = firstGroup(IDF_VERSION_MAJOR_PATTERN, content);
+			String minor = firstGroup(IDF_VERSION_MINOR_PATTERN, content);
+			if (major == null || minor == null)
+			{
+				return StringUtil.EMPTY;
+			}
+
+			String patch = firstGroup(IDF_VERSION_PATCH_PATTERN, content);
+			if (patch == null)
+			{
+				return major + "." + minor; //$NON-NLS-1$
+			}
+
+			return major + "." + minor + "." + patch; //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
+		}
+		catch (IOException e)
+		{
+			Logger.log(e);
+			return StringUtil.EMPTY;
+		}
+	}
+
+	private static String firstGroup(Pattern pattern, String content)
+	{
+		Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(content);
+		return matcher.find() ? matcher.group(1) : null;
+	}
+
 	private static String readIdfVersionFromScript(String activationScript)
 	{
 		String espIdfVersion = StringUtil.EMPTY;
diff --git a/tests/com.espressif.idf.core.test/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/test/ToolsUtilityTest.java b/tests/com.espressif.idf.core.test/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/test/ToolsUtilityTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9ab6706e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/com.espressif.idf.core.test/src/com/espressif/idf/core/tools/test/ToolsUtilityTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright 2026 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) PTE LTD. All rights reserved.
+ * Use is subject to license terms.
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package com.espressif.idf.core.tools.test;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
+
+import com.espressif.idf.core.tools.util.ToolsUtility;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests for {@link ToolsUtility#parseVersionCMake(Path)}.
+ */
+public class ToolsUtilityTest
+{
+	@Test
+	void full_version_includes_patch(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException
+	{
+		Path file = writeVersionCMake(tempDir, """
+				set(IDF_VERSION_MAJOR 6)
+				set(IDF_VERSION_MINOR 0)
+				set(IDF_VERSION_PATCH 1)
+				""");
+		Assertions.assertEquals("6.0.1", ToolsUtility.parseVersionCMake(file));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void missing_patch_falls_back_to_major_minor(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException
+	{
+		Path file = writeVersionCMake(tempDir, """
+				set(IDF_VERSION_MAJOR 5)
+				set(IDF_VERSION_MINOR 3)
+				""");
+		Assertions.assertEquals("5.3", ToolsUtility.parseVersionCMake(file));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void missing_minor_returns_empty(@TempDir Path tempDir) throws IOException
+	{
+		Path file = writeVersionCMake(tempDir, "set(IDF_VERSION_MAJOR 6)\n");
+		Assertions.assertEquals("", ToolsUtility.parseVersionCMake(file));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void nonexistent_file_returns_empty(@TempDir Path tempDir)
+	{
+		Assertions.assertEquals("", ToolsUtility.parseVersionCMake(tempDir.resolve("version.cmake")));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void null_file_returns_empty()
+	{
+		Assertions.assertEquals("", ToolsUtility.parseVersionCMake(null));
+	}
+
+	private static Path writeVersionCMake(Path dir, String content) throws IOException
+	{
+		Path file = dir.resolve("version.cmake");
+		Files.writeString(file, content);
+		return file;
+	}
+}