CVE-2025-53841 (CVSS 7.8)

Description

The GC-AGENTS-SERVICE running as part of Akamai´s Guardicore Platform Agent for Windows versions prior to v49.20.1, v50.15.0, v51.12.0, v52.2.0 is affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability. The service will attempt to read an OpenSSL configuration file from a non-existent location that standard Windows users have default write access to. This allows an unprivileged local user to create a crafted "openssl.cnf" file in that location and, by specifying the path to a custom DLL file in a custom OpenSSL engine definition, execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the Guardicore Agent process. Since Guardicore Agent runs with SYSTEM privileges, this permits an unprivileged user to fully elevate privileges to SYSTEM level in this manner.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2025-53841?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

7.8

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-829 CWE-829

References

Other References

https://community.akamai.com/customers/s/article/Windows-Agent-Vulnerability-Summary-and-Resolution https://techdocs.akamai.com/guardicore-platform-agent/changelog https://www.akamai.com/blog/security/advisory-cve-2025-53841-guardicore-local-privilege-escalation https://www.tuv.com/landingpage/en/vulnerability-disclosure/

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-53841? +

The GC-AGENTS-SERVICE running as part of Akamai´s Guardicore Platform Agent for Windows versions prior to v49.20.1, v50.15.0, v51.12.0, v52.2.0 is affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability. The service will attempt to read an OpenSSL configuration file from a non-existent location that standard Windows users have default write access to. This allows an unprivileged local user to create a crafted "openssl.cnf" file in that location and, by specifying the path to a custom DLL file in a custom OpenSSL engine definition, execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the Guardicore Agent process. Since Guardicore Agent runs with SYSTEM privileges, this permits an unprivileged user to fully elevate privileges to SYSTEM level in this manner. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2025-53841? +

CVE-2025-53841 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-53841? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-59865

Kiota is an OpenAPI based HTTP Client code generator. Prior to 1.32.5, `kiota info` read x-ms-kiota-info.languagesInformation.<language>.dependencyInstallCommand plus dependency name and …

CVE-2025-27510

conda-forge-metadata provides programatic access to conda-forge's metadata. conda-forge-metadata uses an optional dependency - "conda-oci-mirror" which was neither present on the …

CVE-2025-24796

Collabora Online is a collaborative online office suite based on LibreOffice. Macro support is disabled by default in Collabora Online, …

CVE-2024-45482

An Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere vulnerability in the SSH server on B&R APROL <4.4-00P1 may allow an …

CVE-2025-36852

A critical security vulnerability exists in remote cache extensions for common build systems utilizing bucket-based remote cache (such as those …

CVE-2025-34060

A PHP objection injection vulnerability exists in the Monero Project’s Laravel-based forum software due to unsafe handling of untrusted input …

CVE-2025-53841