CVE-2025-9059
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 · uneditedThe Altiris Core Agent Updater package (AeXNSC.exe) is prone to an elevation of privileges vulnerability through DLL hijacking.
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 Altiris Core Agent Updater (AeXNSC.exe) is vulnerable to DLL hijacking, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges by placing a malicious DLL in a location where the application searches for DLLs without full path specification.
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
- Y
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- P
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/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:P/AU:Y/R:A/V:C/RE:M/U:Red
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 Altiris Core Agent Updater is installedSearch for AeXNSC.exe on the system using file search or check common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Symantec\Altiris\ or C:\Program Files\Altiris\. Use command: dir /s /b C:\AeXNSC.exe 2>nulAffected if AeXNSC.exe is found on the system
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Check DLL search order configurationReview the application's DLL search order using Process Monitor or by checking the Windows DLL Safe Search Mode setting at HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SafeDLLSearchModeAffected if SafeDLLSearchMode is set to 0 (disabled) or the application loads DLLs from current directory or Windows system directories without full paths
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Verify DLL loading behavior of AeXNSC.exeUse Process Monitor to trace DLL load operations when AeXNSC.exe executes, filtering for DLL name events and checking if any DLLs are loaded without full path specificationAffected if AeXNSC.exe loads any DLLs using partial paths or searches in directories outside the application bin path
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Check for writable directories in DLL search pathIdentify directories where AeXNSC.exe searches for DLLs (current working directory, application directory, Windows system32, Windows directory, PATH directories) and verify write accessAffected if Any directory in the DLL search order is writable by non-privileged users and the application loads DLLs from there without full paths
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Confirm elevated privilege execution contextVerify that AeXNSC.exe runs with elevated privileges or under a privileged service account by examining the process properties in Task Manager or via command: wmic process where "name='AeXNSC.exe'" get processid,username,executionlevelAffected if AeXNSC.exe executes with elevated privileges (SYSTEM or administrator) and exhibits insecure DLL loading behavior
The environment is affected if AeXNSC.exe is installed and loads DLLs without full path specification, allowing placement of malicious DLLs in searched directories for privilege escalation.
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 dataFix the DLL loading mechanism by specifying absolute paths for all DLL dependencies, removing insecure paths from the DLL search order, and implementing code signing verification for loaded libraries.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-9059 — 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-2025-9059 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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