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-2025-36852

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

CVE-2026-0303

A code execution vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Checkov by Prisma® Cloud can allow arbitrary code execution when Checkov scans …

CVE-2026-47172

Quest Bot is an opensource modern Discord Bot built for moderation, utilities and support. Prior to version 1.0.3, the repository …

CVE-2026-46529

Atril Document Viewer is the default document reader of the MATE desktop environment for Linux. A single-click remote code execution …

CVE-2026-50562

FastGPT is a knowledge-based AI application platform. At commit 22ebfacbb43311e9b73294040ae0eb87390c6bba and earlier, artifacts built from untrusted pull request code in …

CVE-2025-34074

An authenticated remote code execution vulnerability exists in Lucee’s administrative interface due to insecure design in the scheduled task functionality. …

CVE-2025-53841