Uncontrolled Search Path (DLL Hijack)Weakness · CWE-427

CVE-2025-2272

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
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
Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability in Forcepoint FIE Endpoint allows Privilege Escalation, Code Injection, Hijacking a privileged process.This issue affects FIE Endpoint: before 25.05.

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

Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability in Forcepoint FIE Endpoint allows attackers to place malicious DLLs in an unsecured search path, which then get loaded with elevated privileges when the endpoint agent runs, enabling privilege escalation, code injection, and hijacking of privileged processes.

MitigationUpgrade Forcepoint FIE Endpoint to version 25.05 or later to resolve the uncontrolled search path vulnerability.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 checks

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

  1. Identify if Forcepoint FIE Endpoint is installed
    Check for the presence of Forcepoint FIE Endpoint service or installation directory. On Windows, look in Program Files for Forcepoint folders, or check Windows Services for 'Forcepoint' or 'FIE' named services using 'services.msc' or 'sc query type= service'.
    Affected if Forcepoint FIE Endpoint service exists on the system
  2. Determine the installed version
    Check the installed version of Forcepoint FIE Endpoint. Look in the installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\Forcepoint\FIE\ or similar) for version information in file properties, or query the Windows service using 'sc qc <service_name>' and check associated files. Compare the version number to 25.05.
    Affected if Installed version is earlier than 25.05
  3. Verify if the FIE service runs with elevated privileges
    Open Services, locate the Forcepoint FIE service, right-click and select Properties, and check the 'Log On' tab. Or use 'sc qc <service_name>' to check the service configuration.
    Affected if The service runs under SYSTEM or another privileged account (such as LocalSystem)

The system is affected if Forcepoint FIE Endpoint is installed with a version earlier than 25.05 and the service runs with elevated privileges, as this combination allows DLL hijacking for privilege escalation.

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

Upgrade Forcepoint FIE Endpoint to version 25.05 or later to resolve the uncontrolled search path vulnerability.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Forcepoint FIE Endpoint version 25.05 or later

  1. Identify the current version of Forcepoint FIE Endpoint installed on the system
  2. Access the Forcepoint support portal at support.forcepoint.com and navigate to the FIE Endpoint downloads section
  3. Download Forcepoint FIE Endpoint version 25.05 or later
  4. Follow Forcepoint's standard upgrade procedure for FIE Endpoint (typically involves running the installer with appropriate administrative privileges)
  5. Restart the system if required by the upgrade process
  6. Verify the installed version is 25.05 or later using the Forcepoint management console or system information

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-2272 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-2272 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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