# CVE-2025-14963: Privilege escalation in Endpoint HX Agent (xAgent)

> Local attackers can exploit a vulnerable driver to gain elevated privileges and access critical system memory, bypassing tamper protection restrictions.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.2 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8fr6-83vj-w7xh

## What is CVE-2025-14963?

CVE-2025-14963 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Trellix Endpoint HX Agent (xAgent), published on 24 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability identified in the HX Agent driver file fekern.sys allowed a threat actor with local user access the ability to gain elevated system privileges. Utilization of a Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) was leveraged to gain access to the critical Windows process memory lsass.exe (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service). The fekern.sys is a driver file associated with the HX Agent (used in all existing HX Agent versions). The vulnerable driver installed in a product or a system running a fully functional HX Agent is, itself, not exploitable as the product’s tamper protection restricts the ability to communicate with the driver to only the Agent’s processes.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-14963?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Trellix Endpoint Security.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-14963?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-14963 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-14963 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-14963 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Trellix Endpoint HX Agent (xAgent)

- [CVE-2023-3665](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-3665/): Code injection in Trellix Endpoint Security (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2022-4326](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4326/): Trellix xAgent permission bypass vulnerability (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-14963 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-14963 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Trellix Endpoint HX Agent (xAgent), published on 24 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-14963 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Trellix Endpoint HX Agent (xAgent). 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-2025-14963/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-14963/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-14963
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-14963
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-14963

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-14963/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.