CVE-2026-25865
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-25865 is a high-severity Unquoted Search Path or Element (CWE-428) vulnerability in Spektion (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 10th 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 SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-37940
Vulnerability Data
Punto Switcher through 4.5.0.583 contains an unquoted search path element vulnerability that allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code by exploiting the application's call to WinExec without a fully qualified path for RunDll32.exe when invoking shell32.dll Control_RunDLL input.dll. Attackers can…
more
place a malicious executable earlier in the search order to achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected user.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover unquoted search paths through static analysis or dynamic test cases.
Documented development standards and tools can mandate proper quoting and escaping of path elements.
Engineering principles can require safe construction and quoting of search paths and command elements.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent path-handling flaws such as unquoted elements during development.
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.
Enforcing controlled software installation can prevent unquoted search-path elements in executables and scripts.
Secure development lifecycle practices include input validation and path handling that reduce unquoted search-path weaknesses.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles require safe path construction and quoting conventions.
Secure coding standards directly mandate quoting search paths and avoiding unsafe path construction.
Security testing in development can detect unquoted search-path issues before deployment.
Change-management processes can enforce review of path-handling changes that might introduce unquoted elements.