GlobalProtect App: Incorrect Privilege Management Vulnerability in OPSWAT MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK

published 2025-05-14 17 mo ago modified 2026-11-04 5 d ago also EUVD-2025-14911

cvss: 7.1; version 4.0, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.2%; EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 4%
public exploits: 0; none known

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.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

OPSWAT MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK 4.3.4451

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 17 mo ago (2025-05-17)

Exploit prediction

0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	7.1	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
CNA	4.0	7.1	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/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:X/U:Amber

Affected products

OPSWAT MetaDefender Endpoint Security SDK

Classification

Weakness

CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment

References

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

Sources

CVE List CVE-2025-0131
NVD CVE-2025-0131

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Summary