CVE-2025-24830 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability identified in the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent for Windows platforms prior to build 39378. The root cause is DLL hijacking (CWE-426), where the application improperly loads dynamic link libraries (DLLs) from untrusted or user-controllable locations. This allows an attacker with limited local access to place a malicious DLL that the agent will load, thereby executing arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The vulnerability does not require user interaction and can be exploited by a local attacker with low privileges, making it a significant risk in environments where local access is possible. The CVSS 3.0 vector (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) reflects that the attack requires local access and high attack complexity, but results in high confidentiality and integrity impact without affecting availability. Although no public exploits have been reported, the nature of DLL hijacking vulnerabilities and the critical role of the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent in endpoint security make this a serious concern. The agent is widely used for backup, recovery, and endpoint protection in enterprise environments, increasing the potential impact of exploitation. The vulnerability was reserved on January 24, 2025, and published on January 31, 2025, with no patch links currently available, indicating that remediation is pending. Organizations should monitor vendor advisories closely and prepare to deploy patches promptly.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows an attacker with limited local privileges to escalate their rights to a higher privilege level, potentially SYSTEM or administrative level. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, modification or deletion of critical files, and compromise of the integrity of the protected system. Since the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent is often deployed in enterprise environments for backup and security, an attacker gaining elevated privileges could disable or tamper with backup processes, evade detection, or move laterally within the network. The confidentiality and integrity impacts are high, as attackers could access or alter protected data and system configurations. However, availability is not directly impacted by this vulnerability. The requirement for local access and high attack complexity limits the scope somewhat, but insider threats or attackers who have gained initial footholds could leverage this vulnerability to deepen their control. This poses a significant risk to organizations relying on Acronis solutions for critical data protection and endpoint security.

1. Apply patches or updates from Acronis as soon as they become available to address the DLL hijacking vulnerability. 2. Until patches are released, restrict local access to systems running the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Agent to trusted users only. 3. Implement application whitelisting and restrict DLL loading paths using Windows Defender Application Control or similar technologies to prevent loading of unauthorized DLLs. 4. Monitor systems for unusual DLL loading behavior and audit local privilege escalations or suspicious process creations. 5. Employ endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions capable of detecting DLL hijacking attempts and privilege escalation activities. 6. Educate system administrators and users about the risks of local privilege escalation and enforce the principle of least privilege to minimize potential attack surfaces. 7. Regularly review and harden system configurations to reduce the risk of DLL hijacking, such as avoiding use of relative paths for DLL loading and ensuring secure directory permissions. 8. Maintain comprehensive logging and alerting for local privilege escalation attempts to enable rapid incident response.