Published: 2025-11-29T03:15:59.153
Overview
CVE-2025-53939 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Kiteworks, a private data network (PDN) solution. Specifically, versions prior to 9.1.0 are susceptible to improper input validation when managing roles within shared folders. This flaw can lead to the unintended elevation of another user’s permissions on the affected share.
Technical Details
The vulnerability resides in the role management functionality of shared folders within Kiteworks. Due to insufficient input validation, a malicious actor could manipulate the role assignment process. This manipulation could grant a user higher privileges than intended, potentially allowing them to access, modify, or delete data that they should not have access to. The root cause is a failure to adequately sanitize and validate user-provided data during the role assignment process.
CVSS Analysis
The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 6.3, indicating a MEDIUM severity. This score considers factors such as the attack vector (network), attack complexity (low), privileges required (low), user interaction (none), scope (unchanged), confidentiality impact (low), integrity impact (low), and availability impact (none).
Possible Impact
Exploitation of CVE-2025-53939 could result in the following consequences:
- Unauthorized Data Access: Users with elevated permissions could gain access to sensitive data within the shared folder.
- Data Modification: Elevated permissions could allow for unauthorized modification of data, potentially leading to data corruption or integrity issues.
- Data Deletion: In some scenarios, elevated permissions might grant the ability to delete data from the shared folder.
- Compromised Confidentiality and Integrity: Overall, the vulnerability compromises the confidentiality and integrity of the data stored within the Kiteworks PDN.
Mitigation or Patch Steps
The vulnerability has been patched in Kiteworks version 9.1.0. Users are strongly advised to upgrade to version 9.1.0 or later to remediate this security risk. Follow the official Kiteworks upgrade documentation for detailed instructions on performing the upgrade safely and effectively.
To mitigate the risk until an upgrade can be performed:
- Carefully review and validate all shared folder role assignments.
- Implement strict access control policies to minimize the potential impact of unauthorized access.
- Monitor Kiteworks logs for any suspicious activity related to shared folder permissions.
