CVE-2025-5028
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 · uneditedInstallation file of ESET security products on Windows allow an attacker to misuse to delete an arbitrary file without having the permissions to do so.
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 confidenceThe ESET security product installer for Windows contains a vulnerability allowing an attacker to delete arbitrary files without proper permissions. This appears to be a local privilege escalation issue where the installation process improperly handles file operations, likely due to a TOCTOU (time-of-check-time-of-use) race condition or improper permission validation during the uninstall/remove process.
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
- Authentication
- X
- User interaction
- A
- Scope
- X
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if ESET security products are installedOpen Programs and Features in Control Panel, or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*ESET*"}' in PowerShell to list installed ESET productsAffected if Any ESET security product is present on the Windows system
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Determine installed ESET product versionRight-click the ESET icon in the system tray and select About, or check the version column in Programs and Features, or query the registry at the uninstall key for the specific ESET product's DisplayVersion valueAffected if The installed version matches or falls within an affected version range (compare to ESET's official vulnerable version list)
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Locate ESET installer and uninstaller componentsCheck for ESET installer files in common locations: %ProgramFiles%\ESET, %ProgramFiles(x86)%\ESET, and the Windows Temp folder for temporary installer files; also check for uninstaller executables in the ESET product foldersAffected if ESET installer or uninstaller executables exist on the system
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Inspect ESET installation and uninstallation logsOpen Event Viewer and filter for installer-related events, or check %TEMP% for ESET installer log files (typically named ekrn*.log, epfwsetup*.log, or similar), and look for file deletion operations during uninstallAffected if Logs show file deletion operations that may indicate the vulnerable code path is present
A system is affected if ESET security products are installed and the installer/uninstaller component contains the vulnerability that allows arbitrary file deletion without proper permissions.
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 dataApply ESET's official security update/patch for the installer when available. Until then, restrict physical and local access to systems running ESET products, and review installer logs for suspicious file deletion attempts.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-5028 — 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-2025-5028 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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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.
- 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