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

CVE-2025-30248

HIGH · 8.9 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-01-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
DLL hijacking in the WD Discovery Installer in Western Digital WD Discovery 5.2.730 on Windows allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via placement of a crafted dll in the installer's search path.

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

This is a DLL hijacking vulnerability in Western Digital WD Discovery Installer version 5.2.730 on Windows. The installer loads DLLs from its search path without proper validation, allowing a local attacker to place a crafted malicious DLL in the path to achieve arbitrary code execution with the installer's privileges.

MitigationRestrict write access to installation directories to prevent unauthorized DLL placement. Users should download WD Discovery only from official sources and run installers with least privilege. Monitor for unauthorized DLL files in installer paths.

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
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
A
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/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. Verify WD Discovery Installer version
    Open Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell, and locate Western Digital WD Discovery or WD Discovery Installer. Note the installed version number.
    Affected if The installed version is 5.2.730.
  2. Check for installer executable
    Search for the WD Discovery installer executable (commonly named WDDiscoverySetup.exe or similar) in typical installation locations such as C:\Program Files\Western Digital\WD Discovery\ or the user's Downloads folder.
    Affected if The installer executable version matches 5.2.730.
  3. Inspect DLL search path directories
    Identify directories in the installer's search path (system PATH, application directory, working directory). Use Process Monitor or manually check common locations where the installer may load DLLs from.
    Affected if Write-accessible directories exist in the DLL search path where an untrusted DLL could be placed.
  4. Review installed DLLs in application directory
    Examine the WD Discovery installation directory for any unexpected or newly added DLL files that were not part of the original installation package.
    Affected if Unexpected DLL files are present in the installation directory.

A user is affected if WD Discovery Installer version 5.2.730 is installed and the system has writable directories in the DLL search path that could allow DLL hijacking.

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 write access to installation directories to prevent unauthorized DLL placement. Users should download WD Discovery only from official sources and run installers with least privilege. Monitor for unauthorized DLL files in installer paths.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2025-30248 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
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