CVE-2025-20298 | Incorrect permission assignment on Universal Forwarder for Windows during new installation or upgrade

In Universal Forwarder for Windows versions below 9.4.2, 9.3.4, 9.2.6, and 9.1.9, a new installation of or an upgrade to an affected version can result in incorrect permissions assignment in the Universal Forwarder for Windows Installation directory (by default, C:\Program Files\SplunkUniversalForwarder). This lets non-administrator users on the machine access the directory and all its contents.

Published: 2025-06-02 Last update: 2025-08-04 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-20298 is rated Moderate Risk (45.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.17%). 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-2025-20298

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 2026-03-29 0.05% 0.17% +0.12%
2 2026-02-16 0.04% 0.05% +0.02%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-20298

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
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-2025-20298

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-20298

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
splunk universal_forwarder >= 9.1.0, < 9.1.9 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
splunk universal_forwarder >= 9.2.0, < 9.2.6 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
splunk universal_forwarder >= 9.3.0, < 9.3.4 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
splunk universal_forwarder >= 9.4.0, < 9.4.2 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-20298

cvelogic Threat Intelligence