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

CVE-2025-53395

HIGH · 7.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High

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
Paramount Macrium Reflect through 2025-06-26 allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code with administrator privileges via a crafted .mrimgx backup file and a malicious VSSSvr.dll located in the same directory. When a user with administrative privileges mounts a backup by opening the .mrimgx file, Reflect loads the attacker's VSSSvr.dll after the mount completes. This occurs because of untrusted DLL search path behavior in ReflectMonitor.exe.

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

Macrium Reflect's ReflectMonitor.exe has an untrusted DLL search path vulnerability (DLL hijacking). When a user with administrative privileges opens a crafted .mrimgx backup file, the application loads a malicious VSSSvr.dll from the same directory instead of a trusted location, allowing arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges.

MitigationVendor should implement safe DLL loading by using full paths or explicit LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH, and validate DLL signatures before loading. Users should avoid opening .mrimgx files from untrusted sources and ensure backup directories are clean.

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
High
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/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 Macrium Reflect installation and version
    Open Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps, search for 'Macrium Reflect', or run 'Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Macrium\Reflect" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue' in PowerShell to retrieve the installed version number.
    Affected if Macrium Reflect is installed and the version falls within the vulnerable version range (check against vendor release notes for CVE-2025-53395).
  2. Locate ReflectMonitor.exe
    Search for ReflectMonitor.exe in typical installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Macrium\Reflect\, or use 'Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Program Files" -Filter "ReflectMonitor.exe" -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue'.
    Affected if ReflectMonitor.exe exists at the expected installation path.
  3. Verify DLL loading behavior for VSSSvr.dll
    Open Macrium Reflect with a test .mrimgx file placed in a writable directory. Use Process Monitor (ProcMon) from Sysinternals to filter for ReflectMonitor.exe and observe the DLL search order for VSSSvr.dll loading paths.
    Affected if VSSSvr.dll is being loaded from the same directory as the .mrimgx file (or current working directory) rather than from a trusted system path like the application directory or Windows\System32.
  4. Check for untrusted .mrimgx file handling
    Attempt to open a benign .mrimgx file from a non-system directory while monitoring with Process Monitor or by checking application behavior. Inspect if the application attempts to load VSSSvr.dll relative to the file location.
    Affected if The application loads VSSSvr.dll from the directory containing the .mrimgx file, confirming the untrusted DLL search path vulnerability.

A system is affected if Macrium Reflect is installed with a vulnerable version AND ReflectMonitor.exe loads VSSSvr.dll from the current working directory when opening .mrimgx files, allowing potential DLL hijacking from untrusted locations.

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

Vendor should implement safe DLL loading by using full paths or explicit LOAD_WITH_ALTERED_SEARCH_PATH, and validate DLL signatures before loading. Users should avoid opening .mrimgx files from untrusted sources and ensure backup directories are clean.

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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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-2025-53395 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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