CVE-2025-22480
Dell Supportassist Os Recovery ≤ 5.5.13.1
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-22480 is a high-severity UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following (CWE-61) vulnerability in Dell Supportassist Os Recovery. Its CVSS base score is 7.0 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2025-22480 is a symbolic link attack vulnerability affecting Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery versions prior to 5.5.13.1. The issue, published on 2025-02-13, is linked to CWE-61 (Symbolic Race Condition) and CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access), enabling exploitation through manipulated symbolic links during file operations.
A low-privileged local attacker (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with high attack complexity (AC:H) and no user interaction required (UI:N). Successful exploitation allows arbitrary file deletion and elevation of privileges, resulting in high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.0 (High), with local access vector (AV:L) and no scope change (S:U).
Dell advisory DSA-2025-051, available at https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000275712/dsa-2025-051, addresses this vulnerability. Mitigation requires updating Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery to version 5.5.13.1 or later.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-2779
Vulnerability Data
Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery versions prior to 5.5.13.1 contain a symbolic link attack vulnerability. A low-privileged attacker with local access could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to arbitrary file deletion and Elevation of Privileges.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
V15.4.2V5.2.5
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Access enforcement must resolve the actual target of any file reference and apply authorizations to it, directly stopping symlink traversal to unauthorized objects.
Information-flow enforcement on file operations must follow the resolved target rather than the link name, blocking unauthorized data movement via symlinks.
Least-privilege restrictions on the directories that may contain links or targets reduce the set of files an attacker can reach even if a symlink is followed.
Validating file-name inputs can reject or canonicalize names that resolve to links before access occurs.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of symlink-following flaws in file-handling code.
Vulnerability identification can discover existing symlink issues but does not prevent or remediate them in code.
Least-privilege access policies can limit damage from symlink attacks but do not address the coding flaw itself.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can detect symlink-following vulnerabilities before deployment, covering most of the weakness.
Secure SDLC practices can mandate link-resolution checks and canonicalization before file access.
Application security requirements can explicitly require safe handling of symbolic links and path traversal.
Secure-architecture principles require safe file-handling and canonicalization, directly addressing symlink attacks.
Secure-coding standards mandate explicit symlink checks and safe open patterns, fully mitigating CWE-61.
Access-control rules can restrict which files a process may open, reducing symlink-following risk but not eliminating the underlying path-resolution flaw.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248577 OL 8 must enable kernel parameters to enforce Discretionary Access Control (DAC) on symlinks. prevents CWE-61