{"id":39358,"date":"2025-05-18T07:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T07:25:14","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-08T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T18:01:00","slug":"cve-2025-26169-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-ixon-vpn-client-on-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-26169-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-ixon-vpn-client-on-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-26169: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in IXON VPN Client on Windows<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE-2025-26169 is a significant vulnerability found in IXON VPN Client versions preceding 1.4.4 on Windows. It allows a low-privileged user to escalate their privileges to SYSTEM level, potentially leading to a system compromise or data leakage. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32310-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-thememove-quickcal-due-to-csrf\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"50461\">vulnerability is particularly dangerous due<\/a> to its ease of exploitation and the potentially devastating impacts it could have on affected systems.<br \/>\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20182-critical-vulnerability-in-cisco-device-software-allows-dos-attacks\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"46251\">vulnerability is consequential as it allows<\/a> attackers to execute arbitrary code from a configuration file controlled by a low-privileged user. Furthermore, a race condition exists where an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-36631-critical-file-overwrite-vulnerability-in-tenable-agent\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"61879\">overwritable temporary configuration file<\/a> resides in a world-writable directory. Hence, it is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43232-critical-permissions-issue-allowing-app-to-bypass-privacy-preferences-in-macos\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69146\">critical issue<\/a> that requires immediate attention and mitigation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-26169<br \/>\nSeverity: High (8.1)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30165-potential-system-compromise-in-vllm-v0-engine\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"44002\">Potential system compromise<\/a> or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2099279759\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-26168-critical-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-ixon-vpn-client\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"46381\">IXON VPN<\/a> Client | Before 1.4.4 on Windows<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The exploit takes advantage of a race condition and the ability to execute <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-25014-prototype-pollution-vulnerability-in-kibana-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"44884\">arbitrary code<\/a> from a configuration file controlled by a low-privileged user. By overwriting the temporary configuration file in the world-writable directory, an attacker can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4104-critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-frontend-dashboard-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"44280\">escalate their privileges<\/a> to SYSTEM level, thereby gaining the highest level of access on a Windows system. Once the attacker has SYSTEM access, they can run commands, manipulate system files, and perform other actions that could compromise the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29972-server-side-request-forgery-vulnerability-in-azure-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"44754\">system or lead<\/a> to data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3276007986\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-23394-critical-unix-symbolic-link-following-vulnerability-in-opensuse-tumbleweed-cyrus-imapd\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"54446\">following is a high-level conceptual example of how the vulnerability<\/a> might be exploited. The attacker overwrites the temporary configuration file with malicious code that, when executed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29827-critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-azure-automation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"44730\">escalates their privileges<\/a> to SYSTEM. The actual payload would depend on the specific objectives of the attacker.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\"># Change directory to the world-writable directory\ncd \/path\/to\/world-writable\/directory\n# Overwrite the temporary configuration file with malicious code\necho &#039;malicious_code&#039; &gt; temp_config_file\n# Execute the VPN client, which reads the config file and executes the malicious code\n.\/ixon_vpn_client<\/code><\/pre>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are advised to patch their IXON VPN Client immediately to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-51439-out-of-bounds-read-vulnerability-in-multiple-versions-of-teamcenter-visualization-and-jt2go\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"44149\">version 1.4.4 or later to mitigate this vulnerability<\/a>. In the event that immediate patching is not possible, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5485-a-critical-vulnerability-pertaining-to-user-name-enumeration-in-web-management-interfaces\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"61880\">users can use a Web<\/a> Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as temporary mitigation. However, these are not long-term solutions and patching should be done as soon as feasible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview CVE-2025-26169 is a significant vulnerability found in IXON VPN Client versions preceding 1.4.4 on Windows. It allows a low-privileged user to escalate their privileges to SYSTEM level, potentially leading to a system compromise or data leakage. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous due to its ease of exploitation and the potentially devastating impacts it could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[82],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-39358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-microsoft","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39358"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62312,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39358\/revisions\/62312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=39358"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=39358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}