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

CVE-2025-43950

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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
DPMAdirektPro 4.1.5 is vulnerable to DLL Hijacking. It happens by placing a malicious DLL in a directory (in the absence of a legitimate DLL), which is then loaded by the application instead of the legitimate DLL. This causes the malicious DLL to load with the same privileges as the application, thus causing a privilege escalation.

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

DPMAdirektPro 4.1.5 is vulnerable to DLL hijacking due to insecure DLL loading. An attacker can place a malicious DLL in a directory where the application expects to find a legitimate DLL (which is absent), causing the application to load the attacker's DLL with the same privileges as the application, resulting in privilege escalation.

MitigationImplement secure DLL loading by using full absolute paths for DLLs, enabling safe DLL search mode (SetDllDirectory), or using DLL manifests to specify trusted DLL locations. Conduct a code audit to identify and remediate all insecure LoadLibrary calls.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 installed DPMAdirektPro version
    Check the application version through its About dialog, executable properties, or installation directory metadata. Typical locations include the main executable (often named DPMAdirektPro.exe) or a version info file in the program folder.
    Affected if The installed version matches 4.1.5 exactly or falls within the affected version range.
  2. Identify DLLs loaded by the application
    Use process monitoring tools (such as Process Monitor from Sysinternals) to observe which DLLs DPMAdirektPro attempts to load at runtime. Filter for DLL load events and note any attempts where the LoadLibrary call fails or loads from unexpected paths.
    Affected if The application attempts to load DLLs from directories that are writable by standard users or from the application directory itself, especially when those DLLs do not exist.
  3. Check for missing or absent DLLs in expected locations
    Review the Process Monitor logs for DLL load failures. Identify any DLL names that the application searches for but cannot find in the expected locations, creating an opportunity for an attacker to place a malicious DLL with the same name.
    Affected if The application searches for DLLs that are not present in the expected directories, allowing a specially crafted DLL to be loaded instead.
  4. Inspect DLL search path configuration
    Examine how the application configures its DLL search path. Check if it uses SetDllDirectory, absolute paths, or relies on the default Windows DLL search order. Review any configuration files or registry settings that influence DLL loading.
    Affected if The application does not use secure DLL loading mechanisms (such as SetDllDirectory with a safe path) and relies on the default DLL search order, or loads DLLs from user-writable locations.

You are affected if DPMAdirektPro version 4.1.5 is installed and the application loads DLLs insecurely, allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a location where the application will load it.

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

Implement secure DLL loading by using full absolute paths for DLLs, enabling safe DLL search mode (SetDllDirectory), or using DLL manifests to specify trusted DLL locations. Conduct a code audit to identify and remediate all insecure LoadLibrary calls.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-43950 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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