CVE-2025-23258 is a high-severity vulnerability identified in NVIDIA DOCA's collectx-dpeserver Debian package for the arm64 architecture. The root cause is an incorrect permission assignment (CWE-732) on critical resources within the software. This misconfiguration allows an attacker with low privileges on the affected system to escalate their privileges, potentially gaining higher-level access than originally permitted. The vulnerability affects all versions of NVIDIA DOCA 2.5 prior to 2.5.4. Exploitation requires local access with low privileges and some user interaction, as indicated by the CVSS vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R). The impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is rated high, meaning a successful exploit could lead to full system compromise or unauthorized access to sensitive data. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the vulnerability's presence in a critical NVIDIA software component used for data center and AI infrastructure makes it a significant risk. The lack of a publicly available patch link suggests that remediation may require upgrading to version 2.5.4 or later once available. The vulnerability's nature as a permission misassignment means that it likely stems from overly permissive file or resource access controls, which can be exploited by an attacker to elevate privileges beyond their intended scope.

For European organizations, especially those operating data centers, AI workloads, or edge computing infrastructure utilizing NVIDIA DOCA on arm64 platforms, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk. Privilege escalation can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, disruption of critical services, and potential lateral movement within networks. Given the high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts, exploitation could result in data breaches, operational downtime, and damage to organizational reputation. Industries such as finance, telecommunications, research institutions, and government agencies that rely on NVIDIA hardware and software for AI and data processing are particularly vulnerable. The requirement for local access and user interaction somewhat limits remote exploitation but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with multiple users or where attackers have gained initial footholds via other means. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate threat but does not preclude future targeted attacks, especially as threat actors often develop exploits for high-value vulnerabilities like this one.

European organizations should prioritize upgrading NVIDIA DOCA to version 2.5.4 or later as soon as it becomes available to ensure the vulnerability is patched. Until then, organizations should implement strict access controls to limit local user privileges, especially on systems running the affected collectx-dpeserver package. Monitoring and auditing of user activities on these systems should be enhanced to detect any unusual privilege escalation attempts. Employing application whitelisting and restricting installation of unauthorized software can reduce the risk of exploitation. Network segmentation should be used to isolate critical systems running NVIDIA DOCA to limit lateral movement in case of compromise. Additionally, organizations should review and harden file and resource permissions related to NVIDIA DOCA components to mitigate the incorrect permission assignment. Security teams should stay alert for any emerging exploit code or threat intelligence related to this CVE and be prepared to respond promptly.