Vulnerability · Published May 14, 2025 · Assigned by palo_alto

CVE-2025-0131GlobalProtect App: Incorrect Privilege Management Vulnerability in OPSWAT MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK

High 7.1

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK from OPSWAT. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 4.0)7.1High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 95.1% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

An incorrect privilege management vulnerability in the OPSWAT MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK used by the Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect™ app on Windows devices allows a locally authenticated non-administrative Windows user to escalate their privileges to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. However, execution requires that the local user also successfully exploits a race condition, which makes this vulnerability difficult to exploit.

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
OPSWAT	MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK	4.3.0 – before 4.3.4451

Weakness: CWE-266 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/AU:N/R:U/V:D/U:Amber

References

https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2025-0131 third-party-advisory
https://www.opswat.com/docs/mdsdk/release-notes/cve-2025-0131 vendor-advisory