CVE-2025-0283 is a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability classified under CWE-121, affecting Ivanti Connect Secure before version 22.7R2.5, Ivanti Policy Secure before 22.7R1.2, and Ivanti Neurons for ZTA gateways before 22.7R2.3. The flaw arises from improper bounds checking on stack memory buffers, which can be exploited by a local attacker who has authenticated access to the system. Exploitation allows the attacker to overwrite critical stack data, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution with elevated privileges. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.0, indicating high severity, with attack vector local (AV:L), attack complexity high (AC:H), privileges required low (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), and impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability all rated high. Although no public exploits are known yet, the nature of the vulnerability and the affected products—widely used in enterprise VPN and zero-trust access environments—make it a significant risk. The flaw enables attackers to escalate privileges from a low-privileged authenticated user to higher system privileges, potentially compromising the entire gateway device and connected networks. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, disruption of services, and further lateral movement within corporate networks. The vulnerability affects critical security infrastructure components that manage remote access and zero-trust policies, increasing the potential impact of a successful exploit.

The vulnerability allows local authenticated attackers to escalate privileges, which can lead to full system compromise of Ivanti Connect Secure and related products. This jeopardizes the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive corporate networks relying on these gateways for secure remote access and zero-trust enforcement. Attackers could gain unauthorized administrative control, bypass security controls, exfiltrate sensitive data, disrupt VPN services, or pivot to other internal systems. Given the critical role of these products in securing remote access, exploitation could severely impact organizations’ operational continuity and data security. Enterprises with remote workforce setups, government agencies, healthcare providers, and financial institutions using Ivanti products are particularly at risk. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate threat but does not diminish the urgency to patch, as the vulnerability is straightforward to exploit with local access and low privileges. Failure to remediate could lead to targeted attacks, insider threats, or post-compromise lateral movement within networks.

1. Apply vendor patches immediately once they become available for Ivanti Connect Secure (22.7R2.5 or later), Ivanti Policy Secure (22.7R1.2 or later), and Ivanti Neurons for ZTA gateways (22.7R2.3 or later). 2. Restrict local access to Ivanti gateway devices to trusted administrators only, minimizing the risk of local authenticated attackers. 3. Implement strong authentication and access controls to reduce the likelihood of unauthorized local access. 4. Monitor system logs and security events for signs of privilege escalation attempts or anomalous activity on affected devices. 5. Employ network segmentation to limit the impact of a compromised gateway on the broader corporate network. 6. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on privilege escalation vectors. 7. Educate administrators about the risks of local privilege escalation vulnerabilities and the importance of timely patching. 8. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider temporary compensating controls such as disabling unnecessary local accounts or services on the gateway devices.