# CVE-2025-57699: Privilege escalation in Western Digital Kitfox for Windows

> A local attacker with write access to the system drive root can execute arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges due to an unquoted service path.

- **Severity:** High 8.4 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **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:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 22 Aug 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-54g2-grv7-f82c

## What is CVE-2025-57699?

CVE-2025-57699 is a high-severity vulnerability in Western Digital Kitfox for Windows, published on 22 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Western Digital Kitfox for Windows provided by Western Digital Corporation registers a Windows service with an unquoted file path.
A user with the write permission on the root directory of the system drive may execute arbitrary code with the SYSTEM privilege.

Weakness: CWE-428 (Unquoted Search Path or Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-57699?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-57699?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-57699 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-57699 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-57699 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-57699 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-57699 is a high-severity vulnerability in Western Digital Kitfox for Windows, published on 22 Aug 2025. 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-2025-57699 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Western Digital Kitfox for Windows. 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-2025-57699/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-57699/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-57699
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-57699
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-57699

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-57699/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.