dbcve.org
Nagios XiApplication · Nagios

CVE-2025-34288

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2024 or later.
See remediation →
69/100
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
Nagios XI versions prior to 2026R1.1 are vulnerable to local privilege escalation due to an unsafe interaction between sudo permissions and application file permissions. A user‑accessible maintenance script may be executed as root via sudo and includes an application file that is writable by a lower‑privileged user. A local attacker with access to the application account can modify this file to introduce malicious code, which is then executed with elevated privileges when the script is run. Successful exploitation results in arbitrary code execution as the root user.

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

Nagios XI versions prior to 2026R1.1 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability where a user-accessible maintenance script runs with sudo privileges as root but includes/imports an application file that is writable by lower-privileged users. A local attacker with application account access can modify this writable file to inject malicious code, which executes with root privileges when the maintenance script is invoked.

MitigationUpdate to Nagios XI 2026R1.1 or later to obtain the vendor patch. Alternatively, audit and restrict sudo permissions for maintenance scripts and ensure application files are not world-writable by removing inappropriate file permissions.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Nagios XiApplication
Affected:<= 2024= 2026

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 Nagios XI installation and version
    Run 'rpm -q nagios-xi' or check '/usr/local/nagiosxi/version.txt' for the installed version number
    Affected if Version is 2024 or earlier, or is 2026 without being 2026R1.1 or later
  2. Locate maintenance scripts with sudo privileges
    Run 'sudo -l' as the nagios application user to list commands that can be executed with elevated privileges, or examine /etc/sudoers for nagios-related entries
    Affected if Any maintenance or utility script is configured to run as root via sudo
  3. Identify files imported or included by sudo-enabled scripts
    Examine the source code of sudo-permitted maintenance scripts to find any files they import, source, or include (look for 'include', 'require', 'source', or similar directives)
    Affected if The maintenance script references or loads any external application files
  4. Check file permissions on imported application files
    Run 'ls -la' on each imported/included file identified in the previous step to check write permissions
    Affected if Any file that a root-privileged maintenance script loads or includes is writable by non-root users (shows 'w' permission for group or other, or is owned by the nagios user)

A user is affected if Nagios XI is installed with a version prior to 2026R1.1 and there exists a sudo-enabled maintenance script that loads or includes a file writable by non-root users.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2024
Interim mitigation

Update to Nagios XI 2026R1.1 or later to obtain the vendor patch. Alternatively, audit and restrict sudo permissions for maintenance scripts and ensure application files are not world-writable by removing inappropriate file permissions.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

2026R1.1

  1. Verify current Nagios XI version by navigating to Admin > System Information in the web UI or running: cat /usr/local/nagiosxi/etc/xiversion.txt
  2. Download Nagios XI 2026R1.1 or later from the official Nagios download portal at https://www.nagios.com/products/
  3. Backup the current Nagios XI installation including the database, configuration files, and any custom scripts: mysqldump -u root -p nagiosxi > /backup/nagiosxi_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql
  4. Run the official Nagios XI upgrade installer as root: ./upgrade.sh or use the web-based upgrade via Admin > System Info > Check for Updates > Upgrade Now
  5. Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking the version shows 2026R1.1 or later
  6. Confirm the vulnerable maintenance scripts and included files now have correct permissions (should not be world-writable)
Caveat Standard Nagios XI upgrade - review release notes for any configuration or plugin compatibility changes before proceeding

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Nagios Xi Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-34288 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-34288 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data