CVE-2025-14963

Local privilege escalation via vulnerable driver reuse

Published Feb 24, 2026 · Updated Feb 24, 2026

Improper input validation in Trellix Endpoint Security Agent (HX) allows local users to elevate privileges through the fekern.sys driver. Trellix identifies improper input validation in fekern.sys but has not disclosed the affected driver operation or malformed input. Exploitation requires local access and reuse of the driver outside a fully functional agent deployment; tamper protection blocks direct communication with the installed driver.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.10%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper input validation in Trellix Endpoint Security Agent (HX) allows local users to elevate privileges through the fekern.sys driver. Trellix identifies improper input validation in fekern.sys but has not disclosed the affected driver operation or malformed input. Exploitation requires local access and reuse of the driver outside a fully functional agent deployment; tamper protection blocks direct communication with the installed driver.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-14963
Published
Feb 24, 2026
Updated
Feb 24, 2026
Vendor
Trellix
Product
Endpoint Security Agent (HX)
Classifications
CWE-20, CAPEC-30, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 24, 2026Record 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=36.30.0-17, 35.31.0-37, 34.x, 33.x and 30.x

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Trellix · Endpoint Security Agent (HX)version=36.30.0-17, 35.31.0-37, 34.x, 33.x and 30.x

Published CVSS scores

6.2TrellixCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-20Improper Input Validation
CAPEC-30Hijacking a Privileged Thread of Execution
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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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