Summary
CVE-2025-0139 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks’ Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM) agent for macOS, allowing a low-privileged authenticated local user to escalate their privileges to root. This flaw stems from incorrect privilege assignment within specific versions of the ADEM agent.
Technical Details
- Vulnerability Type: Incorrect privilege assignment / improper access control
- Impact: Local attackers can escalate to root access on the affected system
- Attack Vector: Local (requires prior access to the system)
- Exploit Complexity: Low – no need for user interaction or special configurations
- User Interaction: Not required
- Privileges Required: Low (initial local user-level access is enough)
Affected Products
- Product: Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM) agent
- Platform: macOS
- Affected Versions:
- 5.6.0 through 5.6.6 (inclusive)
Fixed Version
- Patched in: ADEM macOS version 5.6.7
- Users and administrators should upgrade immediately to mitigate the vulnerability.
CVSS v4.0 Scoring (Palo Alto & NVD)
- Base Score: 6.3 (Medium Severity)
- Attack Vector: Local
- Attack Complexity: Low
- Privileges Required: Low
- User Interaction: None
- Scope: Unchanged
- Confidentiality / Integrity / Availability Impact: Moderate
- Threat Score: 2.4
Risk & Exploit Status
- Exploitation in the wild: None reported
- Palo Alto Networks advisory confirms that no active exploitation has been observed as of July 2025.
Credit & Disclosure
- Reported by: NVIDIA Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT)
- Vendor Acknowledgment: Published by Palo Alto Networks in their official security advisory.
Remediation Steps
- Immediate Action:
Upgrade the ADEM macOS agent to version 5.6.7 or later. - Verify Endpoint Versions:
Use your endpoint management tools (e.g., JAMF, MDM) to detect systems running vulnerable versions. - Monitor for Indicators of Misuse:
While there is no known exploitation, review local privilege escalation alerts on macOS systems as a precaution. - No Workarounds:
There are currently no mitigations or workarounds besides updating the software.
Final Recommendations
- Treat this as a medium-severity local threat in enterprise-managed macOS environments.
- Prioritize patching in environments where multiple users share endpoints or where internal lateral movement is a concern.
- Review privileged user access policies and endpoint hardening baselines.
