{"id":64180,"date":"2025-08-20T01:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T01:00:52","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-02T00:14:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T06:14:51","slug":"cve-2025-49457-unauthenticated-escalation-of-privilege-in-zoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49457-unauthenticated-escalation-of-privilege-in-zoom\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-49457: Unauthenticated Escalation of Privilege in Zoom<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability CVE-2025-49457 presents a significant threat to the security of Zoom Client users on the Windows platform. It exploits an untrusted search path in certain Zoom Clients, enabling an unauthenticated user to escalate privileges via network access. Given the widespread use of Zoom for business and personal communication, this vulnerability, if exploited, could potentially impact millions of users worldwide, making it a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-21450-critical-cryptographic-issue-due-to-insecure-connection-method\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77181\">critical issue<\/a>.<br \/>\nThis vulnerability matters because it provides an opportunity for an attacker to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50160-heap-based-buffer-overflow-in-windows-rras-posing-system-compromise-risk\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78626\">compromise a system<\/a> or lead to data leakage, posing a severe risk to personal and business data. As such, understanding, detecting, and mitigating this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20217-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-snort-3-detection-engine-of-cisco-secure-firewall-threat-defense-software\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77150\">threat is of utmost importance to maintain the security<\/a> and integrity of systems and data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-49457<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical, CVSS 9.6<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-40741-stack-based-overflow-vulnerability-in-solid-edge-se2025-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"75876\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-709191370\" 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: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\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: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\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: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Zoom Client for Windows | Unspecified<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This exploit takes advantage of an untrusted search <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8088-path-traversal-vulnerability-in-windows-version-of-winrar\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78684\">path in certain Zoom Clients for Windows<\/a>. An attacker can manipulate this search <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8356-path-traversal-vulnerability-in-xerox-freeflow-core-leading-to-remote-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78846\">path to load malicious code<\/a> or libraries when the Zoom Client is launched. Since the Zoom Client runs with the user&#8217;s privileges, the loaded malicious code would also execute with the same privileges, effectively <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6754-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-seo-metrics-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"72717\">escalating the attacker&#8217;s privileges<\/a> to the level of the user running the Zoom Client.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3611243910\" 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>Given the nature of this vulnerability, a conceptual example would involve the attacker placing a malicious DLL <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54653-path-traversal-vulnerability-in-virtualization-file-module\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78862\">file in a directory that&#8217;s present in the search path<\/a> of the Zoom Client. Here&#8217;s an example of a shell command that an attacker might use to copy the malicious DLL into such a directory:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">cp \/path\/to\/malicious.dll \/path\/to\/Zoom\/directory<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>Once the Zoom Client is launched and the malicious DLL is loaded, the attacker would have the same privileges as the user running the Zoom Client, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7734-critical-gitlab-ce-ee-vulnerability-allows-unauthorized-actions-by-attackers\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79542\">allowing them to execute further malicious actions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most effective way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-58280-object-heap-address-exposure-vulnerability-in-ark-ets\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"87320\">address this vulnerability<\/a> is to apply the vendor patch once it becomes available. Until then, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation, helping to detect and prevent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-7457-macos-authorization-model-exploit-leading-to-potential-mitm-attacks\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79989\">potential exploit<\/a> attempts. Regularly updating all software, especially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20133-remote-access-ssl-vpn-vulnerability-in-cisco-secure-firewall-asa-software-and-secure-ftd-software\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"76888\">security software<\/a>, and maintaining a good security posture in general can also help protect against this and other vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The vulnerability CVE-2025-49457 presents a significant threat to the security of Zoom Client users on the Windows platform. It exploits an untrusted search path in certain Zoom Clients, enabling an unauthenticated user to escalate privileges via network access. Given the widespread use of Zoom for business and personal communication, this vulnerability, if exploited, 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":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-64180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-microsoft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64180","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=64180"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80151,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64180\/revisions\/80151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=64180"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=64180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}