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Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2025-12418

MEDIUM · 5.6 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-11-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
56/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Potential Denial of Service issue in all supported versions of Revenera InstallShield version 2025 R1, 2024 R2, 2023 R2, and prior. When e.g., a local administrator performs an uninstall, a symlink may get followed on removal of a user writeable configuration directory and induce a Denial of Service as a result. The issue is resolved through the hotfixes InstallShield2025R1-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, InstallShield2024R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, and InstallShield2023R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A local denial of service vulnerability exists in InstallShield where during uninstallation, the application follows a symlink when removing a user-writable configuration directory, potentially causing DoS by deleting unintended files or causing the uninstall process to fail.

MitigationApply the appropriate hotfix for the installed version: InstallShield2025R1-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, InstallShield2024R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, or InstallShield2023R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
Authentication
X
User interaction
A
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate InstallShield installation directory
    Check standard installation paths such as C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield or C:\Program Files\InstallShield, or look for InstallShield entries in Add/Remove Programs
    Affected if InstallShield is not found in expected installation directories - the system may have a non-standard installation or InstallShield may not be present
  2. Find the installed version number
    Open the version information for the main InstallShield executable (IS.exe or similar) in the installation directory, or right-click the InstallShield entry in Add/Remove Programs and select Properties to view the version
    Affected if The version matches InstallShield2025R1, InstallShield2024R2, or InstallShield2023R2 without the corresponding CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch applied
  3. Verify patch status
    Check the installed updates or hotfixes for InstallShield via Windows Update, the vendor's patch list, or the program's About/Help section for installed security patches
    Affected if None of the security patches InstallShield2025R1-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, InstallShield2024R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, or InstallShield2023R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch are listed as installed

The environment is affected if InstallShield version 2025R1, 2024R2, or 2023R2 is installed without the corresponding CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, and uninstallation of an application using a user-writable configuration directory with a symlink is performed.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the appropriate hotfix for the installed version: InstallShield2025R1-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, InstallShield2024R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch, or InstallShield2023R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Identify the installed InstallShield version (2025 R1, 2024 R2, or 2023 R2)
  2. Navigate to the Revenera community portal or support site to obtain the applicable hotfix
  3. Download the corresponding security patch: InstallShield2025R1-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch for version 2025 R1, InstallShield2024R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch for version 2024 R2, or InstallShield2023R2-CVE-2025-12418-SecurityPatch for version 2023 R2
  4. Apply the hotfix according to the vendor-provided installation instructions
  5. Verify the patch was successfully applied

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-12418 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data