SYSTEM code execution via unquoted service path
Published Aug 22, 2025 · Updated Aug 22, 2025
Privilege escalation in Western Digital Kitfox for Windows before 1.1.1.1 allows local users to execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM. The KitfoxService registration leaves its executable path unquoted, so Windows can resolve a space-delimited prefix as an attacker-controlled executable. Exploitation requires write permission on the system-drive root and yields SYSTEM-level code execution.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Western Digital Kitfox for Windows before 1.1.1.1 allows local users to execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM. The KitfoxService registration leaves its executable path unquoted, so Windows can resolve a space-delimited prefix as an attacker-controlled executable. Exploitation requires write permission on the system-drive root and yields SYSTEM-level code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-57699
- Published
- Aug 22, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 22, 2025
- Vendor
- Western Digital Corporation
- Product
- Western Digital Kitfox
- Classifications
- CWE-428, T1574.009
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 22, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 22, 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=prior to 1.1.1.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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