A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in NSClient++ 0.5.2.35 when both the web interface and ExternalScripts features are enabled. The configuration file (nsclient.ini) stores the administrative password in plaintext and is readable by local users. By extracting this password, an attacker can authenticate to the NSClient++ web interface (typically accessible on port 8443) and abuse the ExternalScripts plugin to inject and execute arbitrary commands as SYSTEM by registering a custom script, saving the configuration, and triggering it via the API. This behavior is documented but insecure, as the plaintext credential exposure undermines access isolation between local users and administrative functions.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-34078 is rated High Exploit Risk (80.5/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 7.05%, 92th percentile). Core evidence: 4 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +4.28% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ | |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ | |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ | |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
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 | 2026-04-28 | 2.77% | 7.05% | +4.28% |
| 2 | 2026-03-18 | 2.29% | 2.77% | +0.48% |
| 3 | 2025-11-29 | — | 2.29% | — |
Full EPSS history (10 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.3 | 4.0 | HIGH |
|
— | — | [email protected] |
| 7.8 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| nsclient | nsclient\+\+ | 0.5.2.35 | cpe:2.3:a:nsclient:nsclient\+\+:0.5.2.35:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/master/modules/exploits/windows/local/nscp_pe.rb | Exploit Third Party Advisory |
| https://vulncheck.com/advisories/nsclient-localtoremote-system-compromise | Exploit Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46802 | Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/48360 | Exploit VDB Entry |