CVE-2025-43079 Local Privilege Escalation via qagent_uninstall.sh Qualys Cloud Agents
Attackers with sudo access can escalate privileges by manipulating PATH to execute malicious binaries via the Qualys Cloud Agent uninstall script.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2025-43079?
CVE-2025-43079 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qualys Agent, published on 10 Nov 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
The Qualys Cloud Agent included a bundled uninstall script (qagent_uninstall.sh), specific to Mac and Linux supported versions that invoked multiple system commands without using absolute paths and without sanitizing the $PATH environment. If the uninstall script is executed with elevated privileges (e.g., via sudo) in an environment where $PATH has been manipulated, an attacker with root/sudo privileges could cause malicious executables to be run in place of the intended system binaries. This behavior can be leveraged for local privilege escalation and arbitrary command execution under elevated privileges.
Weakness: CWE-426
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-43079?
How do I fix CVE-2025-43079?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-43079 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2025-43079 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-43079 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-j3gv-x7fr-5wqw.