CVE-2025-0118 | GlobalProtect App: Execution of Unsafe ActiveX Control Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect app on Windows allows a remote attacker to run ActiveX controls within the context of an authenticated Windows user. This enables the attacker to run commands as if they are a legitimate authenticated user. However, to exploit this vulnerability, the authenticated user must navigate to a malicious page during the GlobalProtect SAML login process on a Windows device. This issue does not apply to the GlobalProtect app on other (non-Windows) platforms.

Published: 2025-03-12 Last update: 2025-06-27 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-0118 is rated Moderate Risk (51/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.99%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-0118

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-22 0.90% 0.99% +0.09%
2 2026-04-20 0.27% 0.90% +0.63%
3 2026-03-15 0.27%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-0118

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.0 4.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:L/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:A)
User interaction is required in an active way.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:H)
High confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:L)
Limited integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:H)
High availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:L)
Limited integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:L)
Limited availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:N)
No: attackers cannot reliably automate reconnaissance through exploitation for this issue.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:U)
User: manual user intervention is needed to recover services.
Value density (supplemental) (V:D)
Diffuse: a single exploit event controls relatively limited resources (e.g., one client).
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:M)
Moderate effort (remote update, disable subsystem, simple upgrade with minor service impact).
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:AMBER)
Amber: provider rates moderate urgency.
[email protected]
8.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.1 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-0118

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-0118

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
paloaltonetworks globalprotect >= 6.0.0, < 6.0.11 cpe:2.3:a:paloaltonetworks:globalprotect:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*
paloaltonetworks globalprotect >= 6.1.0, < 6.1.6 cpe:2.3:a:paloaltonetworks:globalprotect:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*
paloaltonetworks globalprotect >= 6.2.0, < 6.2.5 cpe:2.3:a:paloaltonetworks:globalprotect:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*
paloaltonetworks globalprotect >= 6.3.0, < 6.3.3 cpe:2.3:a:paloaltonetworks:globalprotect:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*

References for CVE-2025-0118

cvelogic Threat Intelligence