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Nessus AgentApplication · Tenable

CVE-2025-36632

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.8.5 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
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 Tenable Agent versions prior to 10.8.5 on a Windows host, it was found that a non-administrative user could execute code with SYSTEM privilege.

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

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Tenable Agent for Windows versions prior to 10.8.5, where an unprivileged user can execute code with SYSTEM-level privileges. This allows a non-administrative user to gain full control of the affected Windows host.

MitigationUpgrade Tenable Agent to version 10.8.5 or later on all affected Windows hosts. Apply the vendor patch following Tenable's upgrade documentation.

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
Nessus AgentApplication
Affected:< 10.8.5

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
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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. Confirm Tenable Nessus Agent is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Tenable*"}' in PowerShell
    Affected if Tenable Nessus Agent is not listed in installed programs or registry
  2. Identify installed Tenable Nessus Agent version
    Run 'Get-ItemProperty "C:\Program Files\Tenable\Nessus Agent\nessuscli.exe" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty VersionInfo' or check version via 'nessuscli.exe --version'
    Affected if Version cannot be determined or the agent is not found at the expected installation path
  3. Compare version against vulnerable range
    Compare the installed version number to 10.8.5. Versions less than 10.8.5 are affected (e.g., 10.8.4, 10.8.3, 10.7.0, etc.)
    Affected if Installed version is a release prior to 10.8.5 (for example, 10.8.4 or lower)
  4. Verify the Tenable Nessus Agent service exists
    Run 'Get-Service -Name "Tenable*" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' or check Services.msc for Tenable-related services
    Affected if The Tenable Nessus Agent service is present on the system (required for the privilege escalation to be exploitable)

The system is affected if Tenable Nessus Agent for Windows is installed with a version lower than 10.8.5 and the agent service is running on the host.

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 10.8.5 or later
Fixed in 10.8.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Tenable Agent to version 10.8.5 or later on all affected Windows hosts. Apply the vendor patch following Tenable's upgrade documentation.

Recommended fix High confidence

Nessus Agent 10.8.5 or later

  1. 1. Obtain the Nessus Agent 10.8.5 installer from Tenable's official downloads portal at www.tenable.com
  2. 2. Stop the currently running Nessus Agent service on the Windows host
  3. 3. Run the Nessus Agent installer with appropriate privileges to perform the upgrade
  4. 4. Follow the installation wizard prompts to complete the upgrade to version 10.8.5 or later
  5. 5. After installation completes, verify the Nessus Agent service has started successfully
  6. 6. Confirm the installed version is 10.8.5 or higher by checking the agent status or using the 'nessuscli agent info' command

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

Fix this in Nessus Agent Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.

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-2025-36632 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data