CVE-2025-59693
Published: 02 December 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-59693 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Entrust Nshield 5C Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Direct Volume Access (T1006); ranked at the 26.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-200261
Vulnerability details
The Chassis Management Board in Entrust nShield Connect XC, nShield 5c, and nShield HSMi through 13.6.11, or 13.7, allows a physically proximate attacker to obtain debug access and escalate privileges by bypassing the tamper label and opening the chassis without…
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leaving evidence, and accessing the JTAG connector. This is called F02.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Physical bypass of tamper protections enables direct volume access to unencrypted SSD (T1006), exploitation via JTAG for privilege escalation (T1068), firmware modification on component (T1542.002), tamper log deletion (T1070.004), and disabling security tools (T1562.001).
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Policy addresses roles, responsibilities, and privilege management to prevent improper privilege assignments.
Access supervision ensures privileges are assigned and managed without improper escalation or retention.
Assigning group/role memberships and access authorizations (privileges) while reviewing accounts addresses improper privilege management.
Enforces proper privilege management by requiring all decisions through the verified reference monitor.
By mandating division of duties across roles, the control enforces proper privilege management and prevents a single entity from controlling an entire sensitive process.
Implements core proper privilege management by restricting to only required rights.
Policy requires training on privilege management and least privilege, making it harder to exploit improper privilege management weaknesses.
Training covers proper privilege management practices, making incorrect privilege assignments less likely.