CVE-2025-15616: Wazuh Shell Injection RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2025-15616 Overview

CVE-2025-15616 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting Wazuh wazuh-agent and wazuh-manager components across versions 2.1.0 through 4.7.x. The vulnerability encompasses multiple shell injection and untrusted search path flaws that enable attackers to execute arbitrary commands through various system components including logcollector configuration, maild SMTP server tags, and Kaspersky AR script parameters.

This Command Injection vulnerability poses a significant risk to organizations relying on Wazuh for security monitoring, as attackers can leverage configuration files, SMTP server settings, and custom flags to achieve remote code execution on affected systems.

Critical Impact

Successful exploitation allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected Wazuh agents and managers, potentially compromising the security monitoring infrastructure itself and enabling lateral movement across monitored environments.

Affected Products

• Wazuh wazuh-agent versions 2.1.0 to 4.7.x
• Wazuh wazuh-manager versions 2.1.0 to 4.7.x
• Systems utilizing Wazuh logcollector, maild, and Kaspersky AR integrations

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-27 - CVE-2025-15616 published to NVD
• 2026-03-31 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-15616

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from improper input validation and sanitization across multiple Wazuh components. When processing configuration parameters, the affected components fail to adequately validate user-supplied input before passing it to shell execution contexts. This affects three primary attack surfaces: the logcollector configuration parsing mechanism, the maild component's SMTP server tag handling, and the Kaspersky Active Response script parameter processing.

The network-accessible attack vector combined with the requirement for high privileges suggests that while authentication is required, an attacker with administrative access to Wazuh configuration can leverage these flaws to escalate their control over the underlying system. The impact includes high integrity and availability compromise with some confidentiality exposure.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-15616 is classified under CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code), commonly known as Code Injection. The vulnerability arises from insufficient sanitization of user-controllable input that gets incorporated into shell commands or executable code paths. The affected Wazuh components do not properly escape or validate special characters and shell metacharacters before constructing system commands, allowing malicious payloads embedded in configuration values to be executed with the privileges of the Wazuh process.

Additionally, the untrusted search path component of this vulnerability allows attackers to influence which executables are loaded by manipulating the execution environment, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution through DLL hijacking or path injection techniques.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access and elevated privileges within the Wazuh environment. An attacker with the ability to modify Wazuh configuration files can inject malicious shell commands through several vectors:

The logcollector configuration allows specification of log sources and processing commands. By crafting malicious configuration entries containing shell metacharacters, attackers can break out of the intended command context and execute arbitrary commands.

The maild component processes SMTP server configuration tags that are vulnerable to injection when specially crafted server names or connection parameters are supplied, allowing command execution during mail processing operations.

The Kaspersky Active Response integration accepts script parameters that are passed to shell execution without proper sanitization, enabling command injection through malicious parameter values.

Successful exploitation grants the attacker command execution with the privileges of the Wazuh service, typically running as root or a highly privileged service account, enabling full system compromise.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-15616

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual modifications to Wazuh configuration files (ossec.conf, agent configuration files) containing shell metacharacters such as ;, |, $(), or backticks
• Unexpected child processes spawned by wazuh-agentd, wazuh-logcollector, or wazuh-maild processes
• Anomalous network connections or command executions originating from Wazuh service accounts
• Suspicious entries in Wazuh logs indicating parsing errors or unexpected command execution attempts

Detection Strategies

• Monitor file integrity of Wazuh configuration files for unauthorized modifications containing injection patterns
• Implement process monitoring to detect abnormal child process creation from Wazuh service processes
• Deploy network monitoring to identify unusual outbound connections from Wazuh infrastructure components
• Review Wazuh logs for error messages that may indicate injection attempts or malformed configuration parsing

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive logging for all Wazuh configuration changes and administrative actions
• Configure alerts for any modifications to critical Wazuh configuration files in monitored directories
• Implement behavioral analysis for Wazuh service processes to detect anomalous execution patterns
• Establish baseline metrics for normal Wazuh service behavior to identify deviations indicative of exploitation

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-15616

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade all affected Wazuh wazuh-agent and wazuh-manager installations to version 4.8.0 or later immediately
• Audit all Wazuh configuration files for potentially malicious or suspicious entries
• Restrict administrative access to Wazuh configuration to only trusted personnel and implement strict access controls
• Review and validate any custom Active Response scripts and integrations for proper input handling

Patch Information

Wazuh has addressed these vulnerabilities in version 4.8.0. Organizations should prioritize upgrading from any version between 2.1.0 and 4.7.x to the patched release. For detailed information about the security fix, refer to the Wazuh GitHub Security Advisory. Additional technical context is available through the VulnCheck Advisory.

Workarounds

• Implement strict file system permissions on Wazuh configuration directories to prevent unauthorized modifications
• Deploy configuration management tools to detect and revert unauthorized changes to Wazuh configuration files
• Isolate Wazuh manager and agent systems in network segments with restricted access controls
• Temporarily disable or restrict access to affected components (maild, Kaspersky AR integration) if not operationally required until patching is complete

# Restrict permissions on Wazuh configuration files
chmod 640 /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf
chown root:wazuh /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf

# Verify current Wazuh version
/var/ossec/bin/wazuh-control info | grep "Wazuh"

# Check for suspicious configuration entries
grep -E "[;|$\`]" /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf