CVE-2025-5480
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 · uneditedAction1 Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Action1. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the configuration of OpenSSL. The product loads an OpenSSL configuration file from an unsecured location. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-26767.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Action1 where the application loads an OpenSSL configuration file from an unsecured location. An attacker with low-privileged code execution can place a malicious OpenSSL config file in a location that Action1 will search, allowing privilege escalation to SYSTEM context and arbitrary code execution.
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< 5.218.620.1CVSS 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:3.0/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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Check Action1 Agent versionOpen Windows Registry editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Action1 or check the executable properties of the Action1 agent service binary typically located in C:\Program Files\Action1\Affected if The version shown is less than 5.218.620.1
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Verify OpenSSL config loading behaviorReview Action1 agent logs or use process monitoring tools to observe if and where the application loads an OpenSSL configuration file. Check for OPENSSL_CONF environment variable usage or look for config file path resolution in the application's behavior.Affected if Action1 loads an OpenSSL configuration file from a user-writable directory or from a path not explicitly secured with restrictive ACLs
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Inspect potential OpenSSL config locationsSearch common OpenSSL configuration file locations that Action1 might reference: the application installation directory, current working directory, user profile folders, and any path indicated by the OPENSSL_CONF environment variable. Look for openssl.cnf or openssl.cfg files.Affected if A writable OpenSSL config file exists in any location that the Action1 service account can read and the application process can load during startup
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Check directory permissions on config pathsUse icacls or accesschk to verify that directories from which Action1 might load OpenSSL configuration are not writable by low-privileged users or the Action1 service account context.Affected if Low-privileged users can write to directories where OpenSSL config files are located or would be searched by Action1
You are affected if Action1 Agent version is below 5.218.620.1 AND the application loads an OpenSSL configuration file from a directory where non-admin users have write access.
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.
dbcve · scoped5.218.620.1
Secure the OpenSSL configuration loading by using absolute, trusted paths and validating the configuration file location before loading. Ensure the config is loaded from a secure directory with proper access controls.
5.218.620.1 or later
- Upgrade the Action1 Agent to version 5.218.620.1 or later
- Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the agent version in the Action1 console or using 'agent --version' command
- Confirm the OpenSSL configuration file is now loaded from a secured location
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-5480 — 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-2025-5480 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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