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

CVE-2025-27237

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-10-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
75/100
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
In Zabbix Agent and Agent 2 on Windows, the OpenSSL configuration file is loaded from a path writable by low-privileged users, allowing malicious modification and potential local privilege escalation by injecting a DLL.

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

Zabbix Agent and Agent 2 on Windows load the OpenSSL configuration file from a directory path that is writable by low-privileged users, allowing an attacker with basic user access to modify the config and inject a malicious DLL for local privilege escalation.

MitigationRelocate the OpenSSL configuration file to a secure, non-writable path (e.g., system directory with restricted permissions) or ensure the current path has appropriate access controls to prevent modification by non-privileged users.

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
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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 Zabbix Agent installation on Windows
    Check for Zabbix Agent service: open Services.msc and look for 'Zabbix Agent' or 'Zabbix Agent 2', or check for the executable at common paths like C:\Program Files\Zabbix Agent\zabbix_agentd.exe
    Affected if Zabbix Agent or Agent 2 service exists on the system
  2. Check Zabbix Agent version
    Run 'zabbix_agentd --version' or right-click the executable and view Properties > Details to see the version number
    Affected if Version matches the affected release where the vulnerable OpenSSL config path behavior exists (verify against Zabbix release notes for CVE-2025-27237)
  3. Locate the OpenSSL configuration file path used by Zabbix
    Check the Zabbix Agent configuration file (zabbix_agentd.conf) for 'TLS' or 'SSL' related settings, and check the system environment variable OPENSSL_CONF by running 'echo %OPENSSL_CONF%' in Command Prompt
    Affected if OPENSSL_CONF points to a directory that is writable by standard users
  4. Verify directory permissions on the OpenSSL config path
    Right-click the directory containing openssl.cnf (from the identified path), go to Properties > Security, and check what users have Write or Modify permissions. Alternatively, run 'icacls [directory_path]' in Command Prompt
    Affected if Users with low privileges (e.g., standard users, authenticated users) have Write or Modify access to the directory containing the OpenSSL configuration file

The environment is affected if Zabbix Agent or Agent 2 is installed on Windows and the OpenSSL configuration file is loaded from a directory where standard users have write permissions, allowing DLL injection 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

Relocate the OpenSSL configuration file to a secure, non-writable path (e.g., system directory with restricted permissions) or ensure the current path has appropriate access controls to prevent modification by non-privileged users.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,620
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-27237 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
  • 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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