CVE-2025-53841
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Akamai's Guardicore Platform Agent for Windows. An unprivileged local user can create a crafted OpenSSL configuration file to execute arbitrary commands with SYSTEM privileges. This affects Windows systems running vulnerable versions of the Guardicore Agent.
💻 Affected Systems
- Akamai Guardicore Platform Agent for Windows
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Unprivileged local attacker gains full SYSTEM privileges, enabling complete system compromise, data theft, persistence, and lateral movement.
Likely Case
Local attacker with basic user access elevates to SYSTEM to install malware, steal credentials, or disable security controls.
If Mitigated
With proper patching and least privilege controls, impact is limited to isolated systems with no lateral movement.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires local user access and ability to write to a specific directory. The technique is well-documented for OpenSSL configuration abuse.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: v49.20.1, v50.15.0, v51.12.0, v52.2.0 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://community.akamai.com/customers/s/article/Windows-Agent-Vulnerability-Summary-and-Resolution
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download latest patched version from Akamai portal. 2. Stop Guardicore Agent service. 3. Install updated agent. 4. Restart service. 5. Verify version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict directory permissions
windowsRemove write permissions for standard users on the vulnerable directory path
icacls "C:\ProgramData\Akamai\Guardicore\openssl.cnf" /deny Users:(W)
Create dummy configuration file
windowsCreate a secure openssl.cnf file with restricted permissions to prevent malicious creation
echo # Secure config > "C:\ProgramData\Akamai\Guardicore\openssl.cnf"
icacls "C:\ProgramData\Akamai\Guardicore\openssl.cnf" /inheritance:r /grant SYSTEM:F /grant Administrators:F
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls and monitoring on affected systems
- Isolate vulnerable systems from critical network segments
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Guardicore Agent version and compare against patched versions. Also check if openssl.cnf exists in vulnerable location with user-writable permissions.Check Version:
sc query gc-agents-service | findstr /i "display_name" or check Agent version in Guardicore consoleVerify Fix Applied:
Verify agent version is v49.20.1, v50.15.0, v51.12.0, v52.2.0 or later using version check command.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected process creation from gc-agents-service
- Creation/modification of openssl.cnf in Guardicore directory
- Suspicious DLL loads by Guardicore Agent
Network Indicators:
- Unusual outbound connections from Guardicore Agent process
SIEM Query:
Process Creation where Parent Process Name contains 'gc-agents-service' OR File Creation where File Path contains 'openssl.cnf' and Directory contains 'Guardicore'🔗 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/
