VulnerabilityPublished 24 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-68920: kermitproject C-Kermit · Missing Authorization

Affects kermitproject C-KermitSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.9 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.9High

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 37% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
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: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 24 Dec 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubkermitproject/ckermit`pkg:github/kermitproject/ckermit`Other threats	Affected =7	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Immediately inventory all systems running C-Kermit, especially versions up to 10.0 Beta.12 and version 7, to identify vulnerable installations.
Apply vendor patches or updates as soon as they become available; monitor official kermitproject channels for security advisories.
If patches are not yet available, restrict network access to C-Kermit services using firewalls or network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted hosts only.
Implement strict access controls and monitoring on systems running C-Kermit to detect unusual file access or modification patterns indicative of exploitation attempts.
Consider disabling or replacing C-Kermit with alternative secure file transfer solutions that enforce robust authorization and authentication mechanisms.
Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing focused on legacy communication protocols and software to identify similar authorization weaknesses.
Educate system administrators about the risks of running outdated or beta software in production environments and enforce patch management policies.
Employ intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or heuristics tuned to detect anomalous Kermit protocol activities.
Maintain comprehensive backups of critical files to enable recovery in case of file overwriting or corruption.
Coordinate with European cybersecurity agencies for threat intelligence sharing and incident response support if exploitation is detected.

Description

CVE-2025-68920 is a high-severity vulnerability in C-Kermit versions through 10.0 Beta.12 that allows a remote Kermit system to bypass authorization controls. This flaw enables unauthorized remote attackers to overwrite or retrieve arbitrary files on the local system without authentication or user interaction. The vulnerability stems from missing authorization checks (CWE-862) in the file transfer functionality of C-Kermit, potentially leading to full confidentiality and integrity compromise. Exploitation requires network access but no privileges or user interaction, and the vulnerability has a CVSS score of 8.9. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the impact on affected systems could be severe. European organizations using C-Kermit, especially in sectors relying on legacy or specialized communication protocols, are at risk. Mitigation involves applying patches once available, restricting network access to C-Kermit services, and monitoring for unusual file access patterns.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-68920 could be substantial, especially in sectors such as telecommunications, government, research institutions, and industrial control systems where C-Kermit might still be in use for legacy or specialized communication needs. Unauthorized file overwriting can lead to data corruption, loss of critical configuration files, or insertion of malicious payloads, compromising system integrity and availability. Unauthorized file retrieval threatens confidentiality, potentially exposing sensitive or regulated data subject to GDPR compliance. The high severity and network-based exploitability mean attackers could remotely compromise systems without needing credentials or user interaction, increasing the risk of widespread impact. Disruption or data leakage could result in operational downtime, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. Given the lack of known exploits currently, proactive mitigation is essential to prevent future attacks. The vulnerability's presence in older or beta versions suggests that organizations running outdated software are particularly vulnerable.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 31 Dec 2025, 22:36 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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