CVE-2025-13532VulnerabilityPublished 16 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-13532: Fortra Core Privileged Access Manager (BoKS) · Weak Password Hashing

Affects Fortra Core Privileged Access Manager (BoKS)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.2 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.2Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.09% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Fortra Core Privileged Access Manager (BoKS)	Affected =12 =13	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-13532, organizations should: 1) Review and update the configuration of Fortra BoKS Server Agent to enforce the use of strong, computationally intensive password hashing algorithms, avoiding insecure defaults. 2) Apply any available patches or updates from Fortra as soon as they are released. 3) Conduct a thorough audit of privileged account password hashes to identify weak hashes and rotate credentials accordingly. 4) Limit local access to BoKS Server Agent hosts to trusted personnel only, reducing the attack surface. 5) Implement monitoring and alerting for suspicious authentication or hash extraction activities. 6) Harden the underlying Linux systems (Debian, RedHat, Ubuntu) by following best practices for privilege separation and access control. 7) Engage with Fortra support to confirm if additional security controls or configuration guidance are available. 8) Consider multi-factor authentication for privileged access to reduce reliance on password hashes alone. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on configuration hardening, credential hygiene, and operational controls specific to the affected product and environment.

Description

CVE-2025-13532 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fortra's Core Privileged Access Manager (BoKS) Server Agent 9.0 when operating in a BoKS 8.1 domain. The issue arises from insecure default configurations that allow the use of weak password hash algorithms, specifically related to yescrypt support on affected Linux platforms. This weakness can lead to the compromise of password confidentiality without requiring authentication or user interaction. The vulnerability affects Debian 11-13, RedHat 9-10, and Ubuntu 24 systems running the vulnerable BoKS versions. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the potential impact on confidentiality is significant. European organizations using these platforms and Fortra BoKS for privileged access management should prioritize patching and configuration reviews. Mitigations include enforcing stronger password hashing algorithms, auditing BoKS Server Agent configurations, and limiting exposure of affected systems. Countries with high adoption of these Linux distributions and critical infrastructure relying on Fortra PAM solutions are most at risk.

Impact

For European organizations, the compromise of password hashes in privileged access management systems like Fortra BoKS can have severe consequences. Confidentiality breaches could lead to unauthorized access to highly sensitive administrative accounts, enabling lateral movement, data exfiltration, or disruption of critical infrastructure. Since the vulnerability affects widely used Linux distributions common in enterprise environments, the attack surface is significant. The lack of required privileges or user interaction lowers the barrier for exploitation by insiders or attackers with local access. This risk is amplified in sectors such as finance, energy, telecommunications, and government, where privileged access management is crucial. The medium severity score indicates a moderate but non-negligible risk that must be addressed promptly to prevent escalation. Failure to mitigate could result in regulatory penalties under GDPR if personal data is exposed due to compromised credentials.

Summary

CVE-2025-13532 is a vulnerability identified in Fortra's Core Privileged Access Manager (BoKS), specifically affecting the Server Agent component version 9.0 when deployed within a BoKS 8.1 domain. The root cause is insecure default settings that permit the selection of weak password hash algorithms, undermining the cryptographic strength of stored password hashes. The affected systems run on popular Linux distributions including Debian versions 11 through 13, RedHat versions 9 and 10, and Ubuntu 24. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-916, which relates to the use of password hashes with insufficient computational effort, making them susceptible to faster brute-force or dictionary attacks. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 6.2 (medium), reflecting that the attack vector is local (AV:L), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges (PR:N), and no user interaction (UI:N). The impact is primarily on confidentiality (C:H), with no direct effect on integrity or availability. The presence of yescrypt support in the Server Agent is relevant because yescrypt is a password hashing algorithm designed to be computationally intensive; however, insecure defaults may cause fallback or selection of weaker algorithms. No patches or exploits are currently documented, but the risk remains due to the sensitive nature of privileged access management systems. Organizations using Fortra BoKS in these environments should be aware that weak password hashes can facilitate credential compromise, potentially leading to unauthorized access to critical systems.

CWE-916Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A04:2025: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product generates a hash for a password, but it uses a scheme that does not provide a sufficient level of computational effort that would make password cracking attacks infeasible or expensive.
Architecture and Design
Use an adaptive hash function that can be configured to change the amount of computational effort needed to compute the hash, such as the number of iterations ("stretching") or the amount of memory required. Some hash functions perform salting automatically.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
When using industry-approved techniques, use them correctly. Don't cut corners by skipping resource-intensive steps (CWE-325). These steps are often essential for preventing common attacks.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Password Storage (opens in a new tab)
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
User Privacy Protection (opens in a new tab)
Cryptographic Storage (opens in a new tab)
HSTS (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.4.3 (opens in a new tab)
V2.4.4 (opens in a new tab)
V2.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Rainbow Table Password Cracking (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

fortra.com/security/advisories/product-security/fi-2025-014 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 23 Dec 2025, 21:01 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-916

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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