VulnerabilityPublished 4 Jun 2025

CVE-2025-20259: Cisco ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent · Path Traversal

Affects Cisco ThousandEyes Endpoint AgentSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 11:42 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 5% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 Jun 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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Restrict local access to systems running Cisco ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent to trusted users only, minimizing the risk of local attacker exploitation. 2) Monitor and audit filesystem changes and symbolic link creations in directories used by the agent update process to detect suspicious activity. 3) Apply principle of least privilege to the agent's update process and related filesystem permissions, ensuring it cannot delete files outside its intended scope. 4) Implement endpoint protection solutions capable of detecting and blocking unauthorized symbolic link manipulations or suspicious file deletions. 5) Stay alert for Cisco's official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them promptly once available. 6) Consider isolating monitoring agents on dedicated systems with limited user access to reduce attack surface. 7) Educate local users about the risks of privilege misuse and enforce strong authentication and access controls to prevent unauthorized local access.

Description

Multiple vulnerabilities in the update process of Cisco ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to delete arbitrary files on an affected device. These vulnerabilities are due to improper access controls on files that are in the local file system. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by using a symbolic link to perform an agent upgrade that redirects the delete operation of any protected file. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to delete arbitrary files from the file system of the affected device.

Impact

For European organizations using Cisco ThousandEyes Endpoint Agent on Windows, this vulnerability poses a risk of local privilege misuse leading to arbitrary file deletion. While remote exploitation is not possible, insider threats or attackers who have gained local access could disrupt monitoring capabilities or system stability by deleting essential files. This could impact operational continuity, especially in environments relying on ThousandEyes for network and application performance monitoring. Deletion of critical files might also lead to data loss or require system restoration efforts, increasing downtime and operational costs. Confidentiality impact is limited but possible if deletion affects security logs or audit trails. Integrity and availability impacts are more pronounced due to potential deletion of system or application files. The medium severity reflects the need for attention but not immediate emergency response. Organizations with strict compliance requirements or critical infrastructure monitoring may find this vulnerability more consequential.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-te-endagent-filewrt-zNcDqNRJ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 6 Jul 2025, 10:25 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats