CVE-2025-41686
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 · uneditedA low-privileged local attacker can exploit improper permissions on nssm.exe to escalate their privileges and gain administrative access.
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 confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in nssm.exe (Non-Sucking Service Manager) due to improper file permissions. A low-privileged attacker with local access can modify or replace nssm.exe to execute code with elevated privileges, potentially gaining administrative access to the system.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate nssm.exe on the systemSearch for nssm.exe in common installation directories (C:\Program Files\nssm, C:\Program Files (x86)\nssm, C:\nssm) and any custom service directories. Use 'Get-ChildItem -Path C:\ -Recurse -Filter nssm.exe -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' or check the service configuration via 'sc qc' for the binary path.Affected if nssm.exe is found on the system
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Identify which services use nssm.exeRun 'sc query type= service state= all' to list all services, then for each service check its binary path using 'sc qc <servicename>' to identify services configured to use nssm.exe as the service binary.Affected if Any service is configured to run nssm.exe as a service binary
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Check file permissions on nssm.exeRight-click nssm.exe in Windows Explorer, go to Properties > Security tab, or use 'icacls nssm.exe' from an elevated command prompt to view all permission entries. Look for any users or groups other than SYSTEM, Administrators, or the service account that have Write, Modify, or Full Control permissions.Affected if Any low-privileged user account or group (such as Users, Everyone, or authenticated users) has Write, Modify, or Full Control permissions on nssm.exe
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Verify write access for standard usersFrom a non-admin user account (or using 'runas /user:standarduser cmd' to spawn a low-privilege shell), attempt to delete or modify nssm.exe, or use 'icacls nssm.exe' to check effective permissions for that user. Alternatively, check if the folder containing nssm.exe allows write access to non-admin users.Affected if A standard user account can successfully write to or modify nssm.exe or its parent directory
The system is affected if nssm.exe exists and any non-admin user or group has write or modify permissions on the nssm.exe file, allowing potential privilege escalation to SYSTEM or Administrator level.
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 dataRestrict file permissions on nssm.exe to ensure only SYSTEM and Administrators have write/modify access, removing any access for low-privileged users or non-admin accounts.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-41686 — 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-2025-41686 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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