SYSTEM privilege escalation via writable web root
Published Sep 5, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025
Local privilege escalation in The Cacti Group Cacti before 1.2.25 allows local users to execute PHP code as Windows SYSTEM. The default Windows installer grants ordinary users write access to the Apache document directory, while Apache processes PHP files there as SYSTEM. A low-privileged Windows account with local or RDP access can place a PHP file in the Cacti web root and invoke it through localhost, gaining full host control.
Summary
What happened
Local privilege escalation in The Cacti Group Cacti before 1.2.25 allows local users to execute PHP code as Windows SYSTEM. The default Windows installer grants ordinary users write access to the Apache document directory, while Apache processes PHP files there as SYSTEM. A low-privileged Windows account with local or RDP access can place a PHP file in the Cacti web root and invoke it through localhost, gaining full host control.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-31132
- Published
- Sep 5, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 13, 2025
- Vendor
- The Cacti Group
- Product
- Cacti
- Classifications
- CWE-306, T1068, T1505.003
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 5, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 13, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <1.2.25
- Affected versionversion=< 1.2.25
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Tenable Cacti Windows privilege-escalation proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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