Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-6020

Path Traversal

Published
17 June 2025
Modified
26 July 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0040 32th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-6020 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Siemens (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 32th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in linux-pam. The module pam_namespace may use access user-controlled paths without proper protection, allowing local users to elevate their privileges to root via multiple symlink attacks and race conditions.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Why these techniques?

Local symlink/race condition flaw in pam_namespace enables direct local privilege escalation to root (CWE-22 path issues during namespace setup).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-54307Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-28827Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-55282Shared CWE-22
CVE-2024-48885Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-20982Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-45171Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-20688Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-28915Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-66429Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-33747Shared CWE-22

Affected Assets

Siemens
inferred from references and description; NVD did not file a CPE for this CVE

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces access decisions on user-supplied paths inside pam_namespace, blocking the symlink and TOCTOU attacks that lead to root escalation.

prevent

Requires validation of all pathnames and file references before use, eliminating the uncontrolled user input that enables CWE-22 traversal and symlink races.

prevent

Limits the privileges under which pam_namespace executes, reducing the impact of any successful path-based escalation to root.

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.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

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.

detects

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References