VulnerabilityPublished 22 Aug 2025

CVE-2025-57699: Western Digital Kitfox for Windows · Unquoted Search Path or Element

Affects Western Digital Kitfox for WindowsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.7 Medium : upgrade to 1.1.1.1 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score

6.7Medium

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.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.1.1.1

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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

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: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
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: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 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 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

Upgrade Western Digital Kitfox for Windows to 1.1.1.1.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Western Digital Corporation Western Digital Kitfox for Windows	Affected <1.1.1.1	Fixed in 1.1.1.1

AI-suggested

2) Restrict write permissions on the root directory of the system drive to only trusted administrators and system processes, minimizing the risk of unauthorized file placement. 3) Conduct audits of service paths on Windows systems to identify any other unquoted service paths that could present similar risks. 4) Implement application whitelisting and endpoint protection solutions that can detect and block unauthorized executable files from running, especially in system directories. 5) Enforce the principle of least privilege for all users, ensuring that local users do not have unnecessary write access to critical system locations. 6) Monitor system logs and security alerts for suspicious activity related to service execution and privilege escalation attempts. 7) Educate IT staff and users about the risks of local privilege escalation vulnerabilities and the importance of maintaining strict file system permissions.

Description

Western Digital Kitfox for Windows provided by Western Digital Corporation registers a Windows service with an unquoted file path. A user with the write permission on the root directory of the system drive may execute arbitrary code with the SYSTEM privilege.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a serious risk especially in enterprise environments where Western Digital Kitfox is deployed for device management or related functions. An attacker or malicious insider with local write access to the system drive root could leverage this vulnerability to gain SYSTEM-level privileges, potentially leading to full control over affected systems. This could result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, disruption of critical services, and the ability to deploy further malware or ransomware. The impact is heightened in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure, where data confidentiality and system availability are paramount. Additionally, organizations with shared workstations or those that allow users elevated local privileges are at increased risk. The lack of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate threat but does not diminish the urgency of remediation, as the vulnerability could be weaponized in targeted attacks or insider threat scenarios.

References

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