# CVE-2025-1131: Asterisk Unsafe Shell Sourcing in safe_asterisk Leads to Local Privilege Escalation

> Local attackers with write access to Asterisk startup directories can execute arbitrary code as root via unsafe shell sourcing in the safe_asterisk script.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N/V:C/RE:H/U:Amber`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2025-1131, GHSA-v9q8-9j8m-5xwp, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-1131

## What is CVE-2025-1131?

CVE-2025-1131 is a high-severity vulnerability in Asterisk, published on 23 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the safe_asterisk script included with the Asterisk toolkit package. When Asterisk is started via this script (common in SysV init or FreePBX environments), it sources all .sh files located in /etc/asterisk/startup.d/ as root, without validating ownership or permissions.

Non-root users with legitimate write access to /etc/asterisk can exploit this behaviour by placing malicious scripts in the startup.d directory, which will then execute with root privileges upon service restart.

Weakness: CWE-427 (Uncontrolled Search Path Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-1131?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Sangoma Asterisk, Sangoma Certified Asterisk.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-1131?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-1131 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-1131 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Asterisk

- [CVE-2024-57520](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-57520/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-47779](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-47779/): Using malformed From header can forge identity with ";" or NULL in name portion (high 7.7)
- [CVE-2025-57767](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-57767/): Asterisk can crash from a specifically malformed Authorization header in an incoming SIP request (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-37325](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-37325/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2025-54995](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-54995/): Asterisk remotely exploitable leak of RTP UDP ports and internal resources (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-1131 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-1131 is a high-severity vulnerability in Asterisk, published on 23 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-1131 exists.

Affected product: Asterisk. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-1131/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-1131/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-1131
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-1131
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-1131

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-1131/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.