CVE-2025-14963
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 · uneditedA vulnerability identified in the HX Agent driver file fekern.sys allowed a threat actor with local user access the ability to gain elevated system privileges. Utilization of a Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) was leveraged to gain access to the critical Windows process memory lsass.exe (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service). The fekern.sys is a driver file associated with the HX Agent (used in all existing HX Agent versions). The vulnerable driver installed in a product or a system running a fully functional HX Agent is, itself, not exploitable as the product’s tamper protection restricts the ability to communicate with the driver to only the Agent’s processes.
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 confidenceThe HX Agent driver fekern.sys contains a vulnerability that allows a local attacker with user-level access to achieve elevated system privileges by leveraging the driver to access lsass.exe memory. The attack utilizes a Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) technique. While the driver's communication is normally restricted to HX Agent processes via tamper protection, an attacker who can bypass this protection can exploit the vulnerable driver.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 30.0.0, <= 34.0.0= 35.31.0-37= 36.30.0-17CVSS 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
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if HX Agent is installedCheck for the presence of the HX Agent service or application. On Windows, look in Program Files for Trellix or HX Agent directories, or check the Windows Services list for HX Agent related services. Also check the driver file fekern.sys in system drivers directory (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\).Affected if The fekern.sys driver is present on the system, indicating Trellix HX Agent is installed.
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Determine the installed HX Agent versionOpen the HX Agent UI and navigate to Help > About, or check the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Trellix\HostIntrusion\ for the version value. Alternatively, right-click on fekern.sys in System32\drivers\ and view Properties > Details > File Version.Affected if The installed version falls within the affected ranges: 30.0.0 through 34.0.0, 35.31.0 through 35.37.0, or 36.30.0 through 36.x versions.
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Verify tamper protection statusIn the HX Agent console, check the tamper protection settings (usually under Policy > General Settings > Tamper Protection). Alternatively, check the Windows registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Trellix\Endpoint Security\Policy\TamperProtection or check if the Windows Defender Tamper Protection is enabled.Affected if Tamper protection is disabled, bypassed, or not properly configured, allowing unauthorized driver interaction.
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Check for signs of driver loadingOpen an elevated command prompt and run 'driverquery /v | findstr fekern' or use 'sc query fekern' to check if the driver is currently loaded and running.Affected if The fekern.sys driver is loaded and running on the system.
A system is affected if Trellix HX Agent with fekern.sys driver is installed and the version falls within 30.0.0-34.0.0, 35.31.0-35.37.0, or 36.30.0-36.x, and tamper protection has been bypassed or disabled.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedApply vendor-provided patches or updates to the fekern.sys driver and HX Agent. Ensure tamper protection remains enabled and is not bypassed or disabled.
Trellix Endpoint Security HX Agent version 34.0.1 or later; or version 35.38+; or version 36.31+ (depending on your release branch)
- 1. Identify the current installed version of Trellix (formerly McAfee Enterprise) Endpoint Security HX Agent by checking the agent properties or using the ePO console
- 2. If version is 30.0.0 through 34.x.x: Upgrade to version 34.0.1 or later (or migrate to version 35.x above 35.37 or 36.x above 36.30.17)
- 3. If version is 35.31.0 through 35.37: Upgrade to version 35.38 or later (or migrate to version 36.x above 36.30.17)
- 4. If version is 36.30.0 through 36.30.17: Upgrade to version 36.31.0 or later
- 5. Deploy the upgrade through the ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO) console or via the HX Agent management interface
- 6. Verify the upgraded driver fekern.sys is the corrected version post-deployment
- 7. Ensure tamper protection remains enabled to prevent exploitation of this driver vulnerability
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-14963 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-14963 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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