CVE-2025-59705
Entrust Nshield 5C Firmware ≤ 13.6.12
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-59705 is a medium-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Entrust Nshield 5C Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 6.8 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique System Firmware (T1542.001); ranked at the 19th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to PE-3 (Physical Access Control) and SC-41 (Port and I/O Device Access) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-200262
Vulnerability Data
Entrust nShield Connect XC, nShield 5c, and nShield HSMi through 13.6.11, or 13.7, allow a Physically Proximate Attacker to Escalate Privileges by enabling the USB interface through chassis probe insertion during system boot, aka "Unauthorized Reactivation of the USB interface"…
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or F01.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerabilities enable physical attackers to activate USB without detection for exfiltration (T1052.001) and replication (T1091) via removable media, modify system firmware (T1019, T1542.001, T1601.001), clear/edit tamper logs (T1070), and impair tamper defenses (T1562) undetectably.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly restricts unauthorized access to and reactivation of USB ports and I/O interfaces, blocking the chassis-probe attack vector used to re-enable the interface during boot.
Enforces physical access authorization and control mechanisms that would stop a physically proximate attacker from reaching the chassis to insert a probe during system boot.
Provides continuous monitoring of physical access to the HSM chassis, enabling detection of unauthorized probe insertion attempts during the boot window.
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.
PR.AA-05 enforces least privilege/SoD and periodic reviews that directly remove most privilege-assignment defects, yet CWE-269 also covers escalation paths and role design outside a single access-management control.
PR.AA-01 supplies credential/identity lifecycle support that can reduce some privilege-assignment errors but does not itself assign, modify, or check privileges, leaving most of CWE-269's risk unaddressed.
Config baselines and default reviews can enforce some privilege-related settings (one facet) but do not address code-level assignment/tracking logic that defines CWE-269.
PR.PS-05 can partially limit exploitability of some privilege issues via execution restrictions, but does not address the core design/implementation flaws of CWE-269 at all.
PR.DS-10 protects data-in-use without touching privilege assignment/tracking, so it neither prevents CWE-269 nor removes more than one narrow facet of its risk.
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.
Requiring owner approval, segregation of duties, and periodic reviews prevents the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges to users or processes.
Enforcing minimum-necessary privileges, temporary grants, and separation of administrative versus normal identities prevents the over-assignment of rights that CWE-269 describes.
Dynamic techniques that grant the minimum necessary rights for a given time window and revoke them afterward reduce the window in which excessive or unnecessary privileges can be exploited.
Explicit restrictions on privileged access and segregation of duties limit the scope of privileges that can be assigned, reducing the chance that excessive or unnecessary privileges are granted to entities.
Defining and communicating authorization levels for each role limits the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges.
Separating duties such as developing software from administering production systems prevents any one person from accumulating excessive privileges that would constitute improper privilege management.