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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-53391: Debian zulucrypt · Incorrect Authorization

Affects Debian zulucryptSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.3 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 11:42 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
9.3Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 6% 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:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 28 Jun 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

AI-suggested

Immediate mitigation should focus on restricting local user access to affected Debian systems running zulucrypt_6.2.0-1. Organizations should audit and harden PolicyKit configurations, specifically reviewing and correcting the allow_any, allow_inactive, and allow_active settings in the zuluPolkit/CMakeLists.txt or equivalent PolicyKit rules to enforce proper authentication and authorization checks. Until an official patch is released, consider disabling or uninstalling zulucrypt if it is not essential, or restricting its usage to trusted administrators only. Implement strict user account controls and monitoring to detect unauthorized privilege escalation attempts. Employ system integrity monitoring to detect changes to PolicyKit configurations or unauthorized root-level activities. Additionally, organizations should stay alert for updates from Debian or zulucrypt maintainers and apply patches promptly once available. Conduct regular security training to raise awareness about the risks of local privilege escalation and enforce least privilege principles to minimize the number of users with local system access.

Description

The Debian zuluPolkit/CMakeLists.txt file for zuluCrypt through the zulucrypt_6.2.0-1 package has insecure PolicyKit allow_any/allow_inactive/allow_active settings that allow a local user to escalate their privileges to root.

References

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