CVE-2025-26850: Quest KACE SMA Privilege Escalation Flaw

CVE-2025-26850 Overview

CVE-2025-26850 is a critical privilege escalation vulnerability affecting the agent component in Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA). This flaw allows attackers with local access to potentially escalate their privileges on managed systems, posing a significant security risk to enterprise environments utilizing KACE SMA for endpoint management.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization), indicating that the agent component fails to properly verify whether a user has the necessary permissions to perform privileged operations. This authorization flaw can be exploited by local attackers to gain elevated privileges without requiring authentication or user interaction.

Critical Impact

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Quest KACE SMA agent that could allow unprivileged users to gain system-level access on managed endpoints, potentially compromising the entire managed infrastructure.

Affected Products

• Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) versions before 14.0.97
• Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) versions 14.1.x before 14.1.19
• KACE SMA Agent installed on managed systems

Discovery Timeline

• July 5, 2025 - CVE-2025-26850 published to NVD
• July 8, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-26850

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability resides in the KACE SMA agent, which is deployed on managed endpoints to facilitate system management tasks. The agent runs with elevated privileges to perform administrative operations such as software deployment, patch management, and inventory collection.

The core issue stems from incorrect authorization (CWE-863) within the agent's privilege handling mechanisms. When the agent processes certain operations or requests, it fails to adequately validate whether the requesting process or user has appropriate permissions to perform privileged actions. This authorization gap creates an avenue for local privilege escalation.

Given that KACE SMA agents are typically deployed across hundreds or thousands of endpoints in enterprise environments, successful exploitation could provide attackers with a powerful foothold for lateral movement and widespread compromise.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2025-26850 is an incorrect authorization vulnerability (CWE-863) in the KACE SMA agent. The agent does not properly enforce authorization checks when handling privileged operations, allowing local users to bypass intended access restrictions. This type of flaw often occurs when trust boundaries are improperly defined, where a lower-privileged process can interact with a higher-privileged service without adequate permission verification.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability is local, meaning an attacker must already have some level of access to a system running the vulnerable KACE SMA agent. The exploitation requires:

• Local Access: The attacker needs local access to a managed endpoint
• No Privileges Required: The attack can be performed without existing privileges
• No User Interaction: Exploitation does not require any user interaction
• Scope Change: Successful exploitation can impact resources beyond the vulnerable component

An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by interacting with the KACE SMA agent service or its associated components in a manner that triggers the authorization bypass, ultimately gaining elevated privileges on the managed system.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-26850

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected process spawning with SYSTEM/root privileges originating from KACE SMA agent processes
• Anomalous privilege escalation events on systems with KACE SMA agent installed
• Unusual inter-process communication with the KACE SMA agent service
• Suspicious modifications to KACE agent configuration files or directories

Detection Strategies

• Monitor Windows Event Logs (Security log, Event IDs 4688, 4672) for privilege escalation patterns associated with KACE agent processes
• Implement endpoint detection rules to identify unauthorized privilege changes on managed systems
• Deploy process monitoring to detect child processes of KACE agent with unexpected privilege levels
• Review KACE SMA agent logs for anomalous activity or error messages indicating exploitation attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive logging on KACE SMA managed endpoints
• Configure SIEM alerts for privilege escalation events correlated with KACE agent activity
• Establish baseline behavior for KACE SMA agent processes to identify deviations
• Implement real-time monitoring for local privilege changes on critical assets

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-26850

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Quest KACE SMA to version 14.0.97 or later for the 14.0.x branch
• Upgrade Quest KACE SMA to version 14.1.19 or later for the 14.1.x branch
• Audit current KACE SMA agent deployments to identify vulnerable installations
• Implement additional monitoring on systems pending upgrade

Patch Information

Quest has released security patches addressing this vulnerability. Organizations should update their KACE SMA deployments to the following minimum versions:

• KACE SMA 14.0.x: Upgrade to version 14.0.97 or later
• KACE SMA 14.1.x: Upgrade to version 14.1.19 or later

For detailed patch information and upgrade instructions, refer to the Quest Security Advisory.

Workarounds

• Restrict local access to managed endpoints to authorized personnel only
• Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized processes from interacting with KACE agent
• Apply principle of least privilege for all user accounts on managed systems
• Consider temporarily disabling KACE SMA agents on highly sensitive systems until patching is complete
• Enhance endpoint monitoring on systems where immediate patching is not feasible

# Verify KACE SMA agent version on managed endpoints
# Windows
reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Dell\KACE" /v ProductVersion

# Linux
cat /var/dell/kace/etc/version