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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2025-13918

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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
Symantec Endpoint Protection, prior to 14.3 RU10 Patch 1, RU9 Patch 2, and RU8 Patch 3, may be susceptible to a Elevation of Privilege vulnerability, which is a type of issue whereby an attacker may attempt to compromise the software application to gain elevated access to resources that are normally protected from an application or user.

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 · moderate confidence

Symantec Endpoint Protection prior to versions 14.3 RU10 Patch 1, RU9 Patch 2, or RU8 Patch 3 contains an Elevation of Privilege vulnerability that could allow a local attacker to gain higher-level system privileges.

MitigationApply the appropriate vendor patch by upgrading to Symantec Endpoint Protection 14.3 RU10 Patch 1, RU9 Patch 2, or RU8 Patch 3 (or later) per the version compatibility with the deployment.

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Confirm Symantec Endpoint Protection is installed
    Open Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC\, or run 'sc query semsrv' in Command Prompt to check for the Symantec Endpoint Protection service.
    Affected if The service or registry key does not exist, meaning SEP is not installed and this CVE does not apply.
  2. Retrieve the installed SEP version
    In the Windows Registry, go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC\ and read the 'Version' value (string). Alternatively, open the SEP client UI, click Help > About Symantec Endpoint Protection.
    Affected if Unable to locate version information indicates SEP may not be properly installed.
  3. Identify the Release Update (RU) and Patch level
    In the same registry location, check for 'ProductVersion' or 'RUVersion' values. The version format typically shows as 14.3.x.x where x indicates the RU (for example, RU10 appears as 14.3.10.x). The patch level is shown after the RU number in the full version string.
    Affected if The version shows RU10 without Patch 1, RU9 without Patch 2, or RU8 without Patch 3 (or any RU prior to RU8), indicating the system is running a vulnerable version.
  4. Compare against secure version thresholds
    Compare your full version string against: 14.3 RU10 Patch 1 (version 14.3.10.x with patch), RU9 Patch 2 (14.3.9.x with patch), or RU8 Patch 3 (14.3.8.x with patch).
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than these patched versions, meaning the Elevation of Privilege vulnerability is present.

A system is affected if Symantec Endpoint Protection is installed and the version is older than 14.3 RU10 Patch 1, RU9 Patch 2, or RU8 Patch 3.

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 vendor patch by upgrading to Symantec Endpoint Protection 14.3 RU10 Patch 1, RU9 Patch 2, or RU8 Patch 3 (or later) per the version compatibility with the deployment.

Recommended fix High confidence

14.3 RU10 Patch 1 (or RU9 Patch 2, or RU8 Patch 3 - depending on your baseline version)

  1. 1. Identify the current version of Symantec Endpoint Protection installed (check in the client: Help > About Symantec Endpoint Protection)
  2. 2. Determine which upgrade path applies based on your current version (RU8, RU9, or 14.3)
  3. 3. Download the appropriate update from the Broadcom Support portal: 14.3 RU10 Patch 1, RU9 Patch 2, or RU8 Patch 3
  4. 4. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  5. 5. Create a backup of the current configuration
  6. 6. Apply the upgrade following Broadcom's standard installation procedures
  7. 7. Verify the installation was successful and the version matches the expected patch level
  8. 8. Confirm the vulnerability is remediated by checking the version number
Caveat Standard SEP upgrade considerations apply - ensure compatibility with existing infrastructure, test in staging first, and plan for appropriate downtime window

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
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2025-13918 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
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data