# CVE-2025-61667: Datadog Linux Host Agent affected by local privilege escalation due to insufficient pycache permissions

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by modifying cached Python scripts executed during Datadog Agent upgrades.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **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:** No
- **Published:** 12 Nov 2025
- **Updated:** 12 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6852-76c5-6cmg

## What is CVE-2025-61667?

CVE-2025-61667 is a high-severity vulnerability in datadog-agent, published on 12 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 Datadog Agent collects events and metrics from hosts and sends them to Datadog. A vulnerability within the Datadog Linux Host Agent versions 7.65.0 through 7.70.2 exists due to insufficient permissions being set on the `opt/datadog-agent/python-scripts/__pycache__` directory during installation. Code in this directory is only run by the Agent during Agent install/upgrades.  This could allow an attacker with local access to modify files in this directory, which would then subsequently be run when the Agent is upgraded, resulting in local privilege escalation. This issue requires local access to the host and a valid low privilege account to be vulnerable. Note that this vulnerability only impacts the Linux Host Agent. Other variations of the Agent including the container, kubernetes, windows host and other agents are not impacted. Version 7.71.0 contains a patch for the issue.

Weakness: CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-61667?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-61667?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-61667 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-61667 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-61667 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-61667 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-61667 is a high-severity vulnerability in datadog-agent, published on 12 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-2025-61667 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: datadog-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-2025-61667/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-61667/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-61667
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-61667
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-61667

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-61667/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.