CVE-2025-1910 in Mobile VPN with SSL Client
Summary
by MITRE • 12/05/2025
The WatchGuard Mobile VPN with SSL Client on Windows allows a locally authenticated non-administrative Windows user to escalate their privileges to NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM on the Windows machine where the VPN Client is installed.This issue affects the Mobile VPN with SSL Client 12.0 up to and including 12.11.2.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/06/2025
This vulnerability represents a critical privilege escalation flaw in the WatchGuard Mobile VPN with SSL Client software, specifically affecting versions 12.0 through 12.11.2 on Windows platforms. The issue allows a locally authenticated user with standard administrative privileges to elevate their access level to the highest possible system level, known as NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM. This represents a severe security weakness that fundamentally undermines the principle of least privilege and could enable attackers to gain complete control over affected systems. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates within the context of a legitimate VPN client application, making it difficult to detect through conventional security monitoring approaches.
The technical mechanism behind this privilege escalation appears to stem from improper privilege handling within the VPN client installation and execution processes. When the Mobile VPN with SSL Client runs on a Windows machine, it likely creates processes or services that do not properly enforce access controls or privilege separation. This flaw enables a non-administrative user to manipulate system components or exploit service interactions that should normally be restricted to administrative users or system processes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-276, which describes improper privilege management, and may also relate to CWE-732, indicating incorrect permissions for critical resources. The attack vector involves a local user leveraging the VPN client's functionality to gain system-level privileges, which represents a classic local privilege escalation scenario.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple access control violations. Once an attacker achieves SYSTEM-level privileges, they can execute arbitrary code, modify system files, install malicious software, access all network resources, and potentially establish persistence mechanisms within the compromised system. This level of access enables complete system compromise and could facilitate lateral movement within network environments where the affected machines are connected. The vulnerability affects organizations that deploy WatchGuard Mobile VPN with SSL Client across their Windows infrastructure, potentially exposing thousands of endpoints to this risk. From an attack perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1068, which covers local privilege escalation, and T1566, representing spearphishing with a malicious attachment that could be used to initially gain access before exploiting this privilege escalation flaw.
Organizations should immediately assess their deployment of WatchGuard Mobile VPN with SSL Client versions 12.0 through 12.11.2 and implement immediate mitigations while awaiting official patches from WatchGuard. The most effective immediate remediation involves restricting local user access to the VPN client installation directory and ensuring proper file permissions are enforced. System administrators should also consider implementing application whitelisting policies that restrict execution of the VPN client to authorized administrative users only. Additionally, monitoring for unusual process creation patterns or privilege escalation events should be enhanced through security information and event management systems. The vulnerability highlights the importance of regular security assessments and patch management processes, particularly for network access control software that operates with elevated privileges on endpoint systems. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and microsegmentation strategies to limit the potential impact of such privilege escalation attacks.