Cyber Posture

CVE-2025-59352

Critical

Published: 17 September 2025

Published
17 September 2025
Modified
18 September 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0138 80.4th percentile
Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-59352 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Linuxfoundation Dragonfly. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked in the top 19.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Data from Local System (T1005) and 2 other techniques. AI-specific risk: MITRE ATLAS AI Supply Chain Compromise (AML.T0010) plus 2 more. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.
Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

prevent

Directly prevents path traversal exploits in gRPC and HTTP APIs by validating file path inputs to block arbitrary file creation and reads.

prevent

Ensures timely remediation by patching to Dragonfly 2.1.0, which fixes the specific flaw allowing arbitrary file operations.

prevent

Enforces access control policies to restrict API-mediated access to filesystem resources, mitigating unauthorized file reads and writes.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
T1552.001 Credentials In Files Credential Access
Adversaries may search local file systems and remote file shares for files containing insecurely stored credentials.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Why these techniques?

Arbitrary file read enables T1005 (Data from Local System) and T1081 (Credentials in Files) for stealing data/secrets. Exposed gRPC/HTTP APIs allow exploitation of the peer service (T1190) leading to arbitrary file write and RCE.

MITRE ATLAS TechniquesAI

MITRE ATLAS techniques

AML.T0010: AI Supply Chain CompromiseAML.T0016: Obtain CapabilitiesAML.T0024: Exfiltration via AI Inference API

NVD Description

Dragonfly is an open source P2P-based file distribution and image acceleration system. Prior to 2.1.0, the gRPC API and HTTP APIs allow peers to send requests that force the recipient peer to create files in arbitrary file system locations, and…

more

to read arbitrary files. This allows peers to steal other peers’ secret data and to gain remote code execution (RCE) capabilities on the peer’s machine.This vulnerability is fixed in 2.1.0.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-59352 affects Dragonfly, an open source P2P-based file distribution and image acceleration system, in versions prior to 2.1.0. The vulnerability resides in the gRPC API and HTTP APIs, which permit peers to send requests that compel the recipient peer to create files in arbitrary filesystem locations and read arbitrary files. This issue corresponds to CWE-22 (Path Traversal) and CWE-202 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor), earning a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Any remote attacker who can connect as a peer to a vulnerable Dragonfly instance can exploit this flaw without authentication, privileges, or user interaction. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary file reads, allowing theft of sensitive data such as secrets, and arbitrary file writes, which can lead to remote code execution (RCE) on the victim's machine by overwriting critical files or executables.

The vulnerability is addressed in Dragonfly version 2.1.0. Security practitioners should upgrade to this patched release immediately. Additional details are available in the official GitHub security advisory (GHSA-79hx-3fp8-hj66) and the Dragonfly comprehensive security report (docs/security/dragonfly-comprehensive-report-2023.pdf).

Details

CWE(s)

Affected Products

linuxfoundation
dragonfly
≤ 2.1.0

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References