CVE: CVE-2025-32802
Title: Insecure handling of file paths allows multiple local attacks
Document version: 2.0
Posting date: 28 May 2025
Program impacted: Kea
Versions affected:
Kea
- 2.4.0 -> 2.4.1
- 2.6.0 -> 2.6.2
- 2.7.0 -> 2.7.8
(Versions prior to 2.4.0 were not assessed.)
End-of-life versions are likely also affected but have not been tested.
Severity: Medium
Exploitable: Locally
Description:
Kea configuration and API directives can be used to overwrite arbitrary files, subject to permissions granted to Kea. Many common configurations run Kea as root, leave the API entry points unsecured by default, and/or place the control sockets in insecure paths.
Impact:
If an attacker has access to a local unprivileged user account, and the Kea API entry points are not secured, the attacker can use the API to arbitrarily modify Kea's configuration or to overwrite any file Kea has write access to. If Kea is running as root, the attacker could overwrite any local file. This can lead to local privilege escalation and/or system-wide denial of service. If control sockets are placed in an insecure location, any local user may be able to impersonate a Kea service or prevent the real Kea service from starting.
CVSS Score: 6.1
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
For more information on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System and to obtain your specific environmental score please visit: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss/v3-calculator?vector=AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H&version=3.1.
Workarounds:
Two mitigation approaches are possible: (1) Disable the API entirely, by (1a) disabling the kea-ctrl-agent, and (1b) removing any "control-socket" stanzas from the Kea configuration files; or (2) Secure access to the API by (2a) requiring authentication (a password or client certificate) for the kea-ctrl-agent, and (2b) configuring all "control-socket" stanzas to use a directory restricted to only trusted users.
Active exploits:
We are not aware of any active exploits.
Solution:
Upgrade to the patched release most closely related to your current version of Kea:
- 2.4.2
- 2.6.3
- 2.7.9
Acknowledgments:
ISC would like to thank Matthias Gerstner from the SUSE security team for bringing this vulnerability to our attention.
Document revision history:
- 1.0 Early Notification, 21 May 2025
- 1.1 Changed CVSS Score from 6.8 to 6.1 (PR:N to PR:L), 22 May 2025
- 2.0 Public disclosure, 28 May 2025
Do you still have questions? Questions regarding this advisory should be mailed to kea-security@isc.org or posted as confidential GitLab issues at https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/kea/-/issues/new?issue[confidential]=true.
Note:
ISC patches only currently supported versions. When possible we indicate EOL versions affected. For current information on which versions are actively supported, please see https://www.isc.org/download/.
ISC Security Vulnerability Disclosure Policy:
Details of our current security advisory policy and practice can be found in the ISC Software Defect and Security Vulnerability Disclosure Policy at https://kb.isc.org/docs/aa-00861.
The Knowledgebase article https://kb.isc.org/docs/cve-2025-32802 is the complete and official security advisory document.
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