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

CVE-2025-25011

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-30
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
An uncontrolled search path element vulnerability can lead to local privilege Escalation (LPE) via Insecure Directory Permissions. The vulnerability arises from improper handling of directory permissions. An attacker with local access may exploit this flaw to move and delete arbitrary files, potentially gaining SYSTEM privileges.

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

A local attacker with standard user access can exploit insecure directory permissions to manipulate files through an uncontrolled search path element. This allows moving or deleting arbitrary files on the system, which can be chained to achieve SYSTEM-level privileges.

MitigationRestrict directory permissions to prevent unauthorized modification of directories in the search path, ensuring only privileged users can write to these locations.

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 the system PATH environment
    Run 'echo $PATH' on Linux/macOS or 'echo %PATH%' in Windows Command Prompt to list all directories in the search path
    Affected if Any directory in PATH is writable by a standard (non-privileged) user
  2. Check write permissions on PATH directories (Linux/macOS)
    For each directory in PATH, run 'ls -ld <directory>' and check the permission bits. Specifically examine the 'w' permission for the 'other' or 'group' category
    Affected if Any PATH directory shows write permission for non-owner users (permissions like 'drwxrwxrwx' or 'drwxrwxrwx' where others have 'w')
  3. Check write permissions on PATH directories (Windows)
    Use 'icacls <directory>' for each PATH directory to inspect permissions. Look for entries granting Write/Modify to 'Users' or 'Authenticated Users' group
    Affected if Any PATH directory grants Write or Modify permissions to standard users or Everyone
  4. Audit directories for unsafe ownership
    Run 'ls -ln <directory>' to check if PATH directories are owned by non-root users, or on Windows use 'icacls <directory>' to check owner
    Affected if A PATH directory is owned by a standard user or a writable directory exists in the path that is not owned by a privileged account
  5. Search for world-writable directories in system paths
    On Linux/macOS, run 'find /usr/bin /usr/sbin /bin /sbin /usr/local/bin -type d -perm -002 2>/dev/null' to find world-writable system directories
    Affected if Any system binary directory (used in search paths) is world-writable

The environment is affected if any directory in the system PATH is writable by standard (non-privileged) users, allowing path manipulation 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.

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

Restrict directory permissions to prevent unauthorized modification of directories in the search path, ensuring only privileged users can write to these locations.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-25011 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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.

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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