CVE-2025-26850
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 · uneditedThe agent in Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) before 14.0.97 and 14.1.x before 14.1.19 potentially allows privilege escalation on managed systems.
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 confidenceThe Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance agent contains a vulnerability that allows privilege escalation on managed systems. The flaw exists in versions prior to 14.0.97 and 14.1.x before 14.1.19, potentially enabling authenticated attackers to gain elevated privileges beyond their assigned permissions on systems where the agent is deployed.
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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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 Quest KACE SMA agent installationOn Windows systems, check for the presence of the KACE agent service (named 'KACE SMA' or similar) in Services.msc or via command: sc query type= service state= all | findstr /i "KACE". On Linux systems, look for the ampagent or kace agent processes running: ps aux | grep -i kaceAffected if The agent service or process is not found, indicating the product is not installed and this CVE does not apply.
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Determine installed agent versionOn Windows, open Add or Remove Programs and locate 'Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance' to view the version. Alternatively, check the agent's About dialog or version file, typically found in the agent installation directory (e.g., C:\Program Files\Quest\KACE\). On Linux, run: rpm -q ampagent or dpkg -l | grep kaceAffected if The displayed version number is lower than 14.0.97 or falls within the 14.1.x range but is earlier than 14.1.19.
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Verify agent is active and managing systemsConfirm the agent has an active connection to the KACE SMA server. On the managed system, check if the agent service is running (Windows: sc query "KACE SMA"; Linux: systemctl status ampagent). Also verify the agent is enrolled and communicating with the appliance.Affected if The agent is installed and running but the version falls within the affected ranges, making privilege escalation possible.
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Review user permissions and agent configurationExamine the local user accounts on the managed system and the agent's configured roles. Check the KACE SMA console (if accessible) for the agent's assigned role and permissions level to understand what privileges an attacker could escalate beyond.Affected if The agent version is vulnerable and the system has multiple user accounts with varying privilege levels, allowing authenticated attackers to potentially gain elevated access.
A system is affected if the Quest KACE SMA agent is installed with a version prior to 14.0.97 or in the 14.1.x range before 14.1.19, enabling authenticated users to escalate privileges beyond their assigned permissions.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade Quest KACE SMA to version 14.0.97 or 14.1.19 or later to remediate the privilege escalation vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-26850 — 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-2025-26850 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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