CVE-2024-51448

Administrator escalation via inherited nssm.exe permissions

Published Jan 18, 2025 · Updated Jan 21, 2025

Privilege escalation in IBM Robotic Process Automation 21.0.0 through 21.0.7.17 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.18 grants local users administrator rights. Installation files inherit writable parent-directory permissions, allowing nssm.exe to be replaced with an attacker-controlled executable. A service or server restart then executes the replacement as administrator; local access and permission to alter the inherited installation path are required.

CVSS severity6.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.15%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in IBM Robotic Process Automation 21.0.0 through 21.0.7.17 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.18 grants local users administrator rights. Installation files inherit writable parent-directory permissions, allowing nssm.exe to be replaced with an attacker-controlled executable. A service or server restart then executes the replacement as administrator; local access and permission to alter the inherited installation path are required.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-51448
Published
Jan 18, 2025
Updated
Jan 21, 2025
Vendor
IBM
Product
IBM Robotic Process Automation
Classifications
CWE-277, CWE-732, T1574.010
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 18, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 21, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=21.0.0 <=21.0.7.17
  2. Affected versionversion=23.0.0 <=23.0.18

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

IBM · IBM Robotic Process Automationversion=21.0.0 <=21.0.7.17; version=23.0.0 <=23.0.18

Published CVSS scores

6.7IBM CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-277Insecure Inherited Permissions
CWE-732Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
T1574.010Services File Permissions Weakness

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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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