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

CVE-2025-69599

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
RayVentory Scan Engine through 12.6 Update 8 allows attackers to gain privileges if they control the value of the PATH environment variable. NOTE: this is disputed because ability of an attacker to control the environment is a site-specific misconfiguration.

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

The RayVentory Scan Engine through version 12.6 Update 8 is vulnerable to privilege escalation via PATH environment variable manipulation. Attackers who can control the PATH variable can inject malicious executable paths that the application will execute, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges. This is a classic PATH manipulation vulnerability where relative paths are used for system calls without proper validation.

MitigationRestrict user-level control of the PATH environment variable and ensure all executable calls use absolute paths rather than relying on the PATH variable. Implement least-privilege configurations to prevent unauthorized environment modification.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify installed RayVentory Scan Engine version
    Locate the RayVentory installation directory and check the version information (typically in the executable properties, a version file, or the Windows service details)
    Affected if The installed version is 12.6 Update 8 or any earlier version (the vulnerability affects through version 12.6 Update 8)
  2. Determine if the RayVentory service runs with elevated privileges
    Open Services, find the RayVentory Scan Engine service, right-click and view Properties, check the 'Log on as' account; elevated privileges are typically indicated by running as LocalSystem, a domain admin, or other privileged account
    Affected if The service runs with elevated privileges (LocalSystem, administrator, or other high-privilege account) and standard users can control the PATH variable
  3. Verify user-level PATH environment variable control
    Open System Properties > Environment Variables and check if standard users have the ability to modify the User PATH variable (not just the System PATH)
    Affected if Standard (non-admin) users can modify their own PATH environment variable settings
  4. Check for relative executable paths in RayVentory configuration
    Examine RayVentory configuration files (typically found in the installation directory or ProgramData) for any executable calls that use relative paths or rely on PATH resolution rather than absolute paths
    Affected if Configuration files show executable calls using relative paths or no absolute path specification, indicating reliance on PATH variable resolution

A user is affected if they are running RayVentory Scan Engine version 12.6 Update 8 or earlier, the service runs with elevated privileges, and standard users can control the PATH environment variable.

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

Restrict user-level control of the PATH environment variable and ensure all executable calls use absolute paths rather than relying on the PATH variable. Implement least-privilege configurations to prevent unauthorized environment modification.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,480.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-69599 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-69599 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data