# 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.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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 available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Nov 2025
- **Updated:** 18 Mar 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j3gv-x7fr-5wqw

## 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 (Untrusted Search Path)

## 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.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-43079 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-43079 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qualys Agent. 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-2025-43079/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43079/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-43079
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-43079
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-43079

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43079/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.