CVE-2025-5468VulnerabilityPublished 12 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-5468: Ivanti Connect Secure · UNIX Symbolic Link

Affects Ivanti Connect SecureSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 29% 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:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
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: 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: 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 12 Aug 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 2026-10-25.

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
Ivanti Connect Secure	Affected =22.8	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately verify the versions of Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, ZTA Gateway, and Neurons for Secure Access deployed in their environments. Upgrading to the fixed versions (22.7R2.8 or later for Connect Secure, 22.7R1.5 or later for Policy Secure, 22.8R2.3-723 or later for ZTA Gateway, and 22.8R1.4 or later for Neurons) is the primary mitigation. Additionally, organizations should audit local user accounts and restrict access to only trusted personnel, as exploitation requires local authentication. Implement strict file system permissions to limit the ability of users to create or manipulate symbolic links in sensitive directories. Monitoring and alerting on unusual file access patterns or symbolic link creations can help detect exploitation attempts. Network segmentation to isolate Ivanti servers and use of multi-factor authentication can reduce the risk of unauthorized local access. Finally, reviewing and hardening the configuration of Ivanti products to minimize exposure and applying security best practices for privileged access management will further reduce risk.

Description

Improper handling of symbolic links in Ivanti Connect Secure before version 22.7R2.8 or 22.8R2, Ivanti Policy Secure before 22.7R1.5, Ivanti ZTA Gateway before 22.8R2.3-723 and Ivanti Neurons for Secure Access before 22.8R1.4 (Fix deployed on 02-Aug-2025) allows a local authenticated attacker to read arbitrary files on disk.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information stored on servers running affected Ivanti products. Ivanti Connect Secure and related products are often used to provide secure remote access and policy enforcement, meaning that an attacker with low-level authenticated access could leverage this flaw to read configuration files, credentials, or other sensitive data. This could facilitate further lateral movement, privilege escalation, or data exfiltration within corporate networks. The impact is particularly significant for organizations handling sensitive personal data under GDPR, as unauthorized data access could lead to regulatory penalties and reputational damage. Additionally, sectors such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure that rely on Ivanti solutions for secure access may face increased risk of targeted attacks exploiting this vulnerability to gain intelligence or disrupt operations.

CWE-61UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following (opens in a new tab)
Compound weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently account for when the file is a symbolic link that resolves to a target outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the product to operate on unauthorized files.
Implementation
Symbolic link attacks often occur when a program creates a tmp directory that stores files/links. Access to the directory should be restricted to the program as to prevent attackers from manipulating the files.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

forums.ivanti.com/s/article/August-Security-Advisory-Ivanti-Connect-Secure-Policy-Secure-ZTA-Gateways-Multiple-CVEs?language=en_US (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Aug 2025, 15:33 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-61

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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