Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2025-61156

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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
Incorrect access control in the kernel driver of ThreatFire System Monitor v4.7.0.53 allows attackers to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary commands via an insecure IOCTL.

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

A kernel driver in ThreatFire System Monitor v4.7.0.53 contains an insecure IOCTL (Input/Output Control) handler that lacks proper access control validation. This allows a local unprivileged attacker to send specially crafted IOCTL requests to the driver, escalating to kernel-level privileges and executing arbitrary system commands with full administrative rights.

MitigationRemove or disable the ThreatFire System Monitor kernel driver if the software is no longer actively maintained. If continued use is required, contact the vendor for an updated patched version, or implement application whitelisting and restrict driver loading to prevent exploitation.

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if ThreatFire System Monitor is installed
    Search for ThreatFire in installed programs via Control Panel > Programs and Features, or check common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\ThreatFire or C:\Program Files (x86)\ThreatFire
    Affected if ThreatFire System Monitor is present on the system
  2. Verify the installed version
    Right-click the main ThreatFire executable (typically tf.exe or similar) and select Properties > Details to view the version, or check the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for ThreatFire entries
    Affected if The installed version matches 4.7.0.53
  3. Check for the vulnerable kernel driver
    Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers and look for the ThreatFire kernel driver file (commonly tf*.sys or similar naming pattern), or run 'driverquery /v' in an elevated command prompt to list loaded drivers
    Affected if A ThreatFire kernel driver (.sys file) is present and loaded in memory
  4. Identify running ThreatFire processes
    Open Task Manager or run 'tasklist /fi "imagename eq tf*"' in Command Prompt to list active ThreatFire processes
    Affected if ThreatFire processes are actively running on the system

The environment is affected if ThreatFire System Monitor version 4.7.0.53 is installed and its kernel driver is loaded, as this enables the vulnerable IOCTL handler to be exploited.

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

Remove or disable the ThreatFire System Monitor kernel driver if the software is no longer actively maintained. If continued use is required, contact the vendor for an updated patched version, or implement application whitelisting and restrict driver loading to prevent exploitation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2025-61156 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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