CVE-2025-55282

Critical

Published: 18 August 2025

Published

18 August 2025

Modified

21 August 2025

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0012 31.1th percentile

Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-55282 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Aiven Aiven-Db-Migrate. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 31.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-6 (Least Privilege) and CM-6 (Configuration Settings).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

prevent

Enforces least privilege to prevent privilege escalation during database migrations by ensuring the aiven-db-migrate tool and PostgreSQL connections do not allow superuser elevation from untrusted sources.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Requires timely remediation and patching of the specific search_path restriction flaw in aiven-db-migrate versions prior to 1.0.7 to eliminate the privilege escalation vulnerability.

CM-6 Configuration Settings good match

prevent

Mandates secure configuration settings for database migration tools, including explicit search_path restrictions, to block pg_catalog overrides during migrations from untrusted sources.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Direct privilege escalation to superuser via exploitation of search_path handling flaw during DB migration, matching T1068 exactly.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

aiven-db-migrate is an Aiven database migration tool. Prior to 1.0.7, there is a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows a user to elevate to superuser inside PostgreSQL databases during a migration from an untrusted source server. By exploiting a lack of…

search_path restriction, an attacker can override pg_catalog and execute untrusted operators as a superuser. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.0.7.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-55282 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in aiven-db-migrate, an Aiven database migration tool. Versions prior to 1.0.7 fail to restrict the search_path during migrations from untrusted source servers to PostgreSQL databases. This allows an attacker to override the pg_catalog schema and execute untrusted operators with superuser privileges. The issue is classified under CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An attacker with high privileges (PR:H), such as the ability to initiate or influence a database migration from an untrusted source, can exploit this over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation changes the scope (S:C) and grants full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact (C:H/I:H/A:H), enabling superuser escalation within the target PostgreSQL database.

The vulnerability is fixed in aiven-db-migrate version 1.0.7. Aiven's security advisory (GHSA-hmvf-93r4-36f9) and the corresponding patch commit (39517dc55720055d93262033b142a365f5bf92c5) detail the remediation, which addresses the search_path restriction to prevent schema override during migrations. Security practitioners should upgrade to 1.0.7 or later and audit migration workflows involving untrusted sources.