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Incorrect Default PermissionsWeakness · CWE-276

CVE-2025-24915

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
When installing Nessus Agent to a non-default location on a Windows host, Nessus Agent versions prior to 10.8.3 did not enforce secure permissions for sub-directories.  This could allow for local privilege escalation if users had not secured the directories in the non-default installation location.

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

Nessus Agent versions prior to 10.8.3 for Windows fail to enforce secure permissions on sub-directories when installed to a non-default location. This permission misconfiguration allows local unprivileged users to potentially modify executable files or configurations within the installation directory, leading to local privilege escalation.

MitigationUpgrade Nessus Agent to version 10.8.3 or later, or manually configure restrictive permissions on sub-directories in non-default installation paths to prevent unauthorized user access.

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check if Nessus Agent is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Nessus*"}' in PowerShell
    Affected if Nessus Agent for Windows appears in installed programs or registry
  2. Identify the installed version
    Run 'sc query TenableAgent' to check if service exists, then check version via 'Get-ItemProperty "C:\Program Files\Tenable\Nessus Agent\nessuscli.exe" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty VersionInfo' or check in Programs and Features
    Affected if Installed version is lower than 10.8.3 (e.g., 10.x.x, 10.8.0, 10.8.1, 10.8.2)
  3. Determine the installation directory location
    Check the installation path via registry at 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Tenable\NessusAgent\InstallPath' or by right-clicking the service in Services.msc and viewing the executable path
    Affected if The installation path is NOT the default location (default is typically C:\Program Files\Tenable\Nessus Agent\) or C:\Program Files (x86)\Nessus Agent\)
  4. Inspect sub-directory permissions
    Right-click the Nessus Agent installation folder, go to Properties > Security tab, and check the permissions on sub-directories like 'nessus', 'plugins', or 'scripts'. Use 'icacls "C:\Program Files\Tenable\Nessus Agent\*"' in Command Prompt to list ACLs for all subdirectories
    Affected if Users group, authenticated users, or non-admin users have Modify, Write, or Full Control permissions on subdirectories in a non-default installation path

User is affected if Nessus Agent for Windows version prior to 10.8.3 is installed to a non-default directory and non-privileged users have write/modify access to subdirectories within the installation folder.

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 Nessus Agent to version 10.8.3 or later, or manually configure restrictive permissions on sub-directories in non-default installation paths to prevent unauthorized user access.

Recommended fix High confidence

Nessus Agent 10.8.3

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Nessus Agent version by checking the installed programs list or running 'nessuscli --version'
  2. 2. Download Nessus Agent version 10.8.3 or later from the official Tenable downloads portal
  3. 3. Uninstall the current Nessus Agent installation
  4. 4. Install Nessus Agent 10.8.3 or later to the desired location
  5. 5. Verify that the new installation uses secure default permissions on all sub-directories
  6. 6. Re-register the agent with the Tenable platform if required
Caveat Review Tenable release notes for any changes to agent functionality or compatibility requirements before upgrading

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
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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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-2025-24915 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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