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OS Command InjectionWeakness · CWE-78

CVE-2025-14500

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2025-12-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
IceWarp14 X-File-Operation Command Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of IceWarp. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handling of the X-File-Operation header. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of a user-supplied string before using it to execute a system call. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-27394.

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

IceWarp14 fails to validate user input from the X-File-Operation HTTP header before passing it to a system call, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to inject OS commands and execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patch or upgrade to a non-vulnerable version; if unavailable, restrict or block external access to endpoints processing the X-File-Operation header at the network perimeter.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 IceWarp installation
    Look for IceWarp installation directories (typically C:\Program Files\IceWarp\ on Windows or /opt/icewarp/ on Linux). Check for icewarp.exe or icewarp service processes running.
    Affected if IceWarp software is present on the system
  2. Determine IceWarp version
    Check the installed version - on Windows, inspect the file properties of icewarp.exe or look in the registry under HKLM\Software\IceWarp\Server. On Linux, run: /opt/icewarp/icewarp --version or check /opt/icewarp/include/version.h
    Affected if The installed version falls within IceWarp14 (any build) and the vendor has not yet released a patched version for CVE-2025-14500
  3. Verify web services are exposed
    Check if IceWarp's web server (typically running on ports 80, 443, or 2080, 2443) is listening and accessible from network. Inspect configuration files (icewarp.xml or webmail config) for enabled HTTP endpoints.
    Affected if The web interface is accessible externally and the X-File-Operation header endpoint is enabled
  4. Identify X-File-Operation endpoint exposure
    Review IceWarp web server configuration files for handlers processing the X-File-Operation header. Look for file operation, upload/download, or sync functionalities that may use this header.
    Affected if Endpoints processing the X-File-Operation header are exposed (no network filtering or authentication layer blocking them)
  5. Check for anomalous HTTP requests
    Review web server access logs for requests containing X-File-Operation headers, particularly those with shell metacharacters (;, |, &, backticks, $() ) or unusual file paths. Default log locations: C:\Program Files\IceWarp\Logs\ on Windows, /var/log/icewarp/ on Linux.
    Affected if Suspicious X-File-Operation header values appear in logs indicating exploitation attempts

You are affected if IceWarp14 is installed with a version that has not been patched for CVE-2025-14500 AND the web service processing the X-File-Operation header is network-accessible.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patch or upgrade to a non-vulnerable version; if unavailable, restrict or block external access to endpoints processing the X-File-Operation header at the network perimeter.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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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-2025-14500 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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