Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessAuthenticate as delegated admin
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DeliveryInvoke administrative import function
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ExploitImport privileged integration credential
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ExecutionBypass entitlement check
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ImpactGain full system-administrator privileges
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Access control enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Defense Evasion The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires an authenticated delegated (non-system) administrator account holding at least one narrowly scoped administrative permission on Kiteworks Core prior to 9.5.1. The specific trigger is the administrative import function used to import an integration credential: it fails to verify that the requesting administrator is entitled to create the privileged credential being imported. No user interaction from any existing system administrator is needed (UI:N), and no non-default configuration is required beyond the presence of a delegated-admin role - this is the intended least-privilege delegation model being subverted. The principal limiting factor is the PR:H prerequisite: an external unauthenticated attacker cannot reach this path without first obtaining delegated-admin credentials. |
| Impact | Vendor CVSS 3.1 rates this 7.2 (High) with vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, and I concur with the metrics - the one nuance is that PR:H is genuine and materially caps real-world risk: the attacker must already hold a valid delegated-administrator account with at least one narrowly scoped admin permission, so this is an insider/lateral privilege-escalation issue, not an unauthenticated internet-facing takeover. No EPSS score, KEV entry, or public POC is provided; per the precision rules this is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' There is no SSVC decision block in the input. The signals are internally consistent (no CVSS-vs-description conflict): AV:N is reasonable because the administrative import function is reached over the management network/API, and the C:H/I:H/A:H total-impact rating is justified because the end state is full system-administrator privilege. Net: a real and serious escalation-of-privilege flaw for organizations that use Kiteworks delegated/least-privilege admin models, but the PR:H gate and absence of any exploitation evidence place it below the unauthenticated Kiteworks issues in the same advisory batch - treat as a prompt-patch item rather than an emergency. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An organization delegates a single narrow admin permission (for example, integration or import management) to a junior operator. That operator uses the administrative import function to import a privileged integration credential; because the function never checks whether the requesting admin is entitled to create that credential, the operator effectively grants themselves full system-administrator rights with no action by any existing sysadmin. No public exploit code is currently identified. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 30, 2026
Privilege escalation in Kiteworks Core versions before 9.5.1 allows an authenticated delegated administrator holding only a single narrowly scoped administrative permission to obtain full system administrator privileges by abusing the administrative import function for integration credentials, which fails to verify that the requesting administrator is entitled to create the privileged credential being imported (CVE-2026-102132, CVSS 7.2 High). The attacker must already possess a valid delegated-admin account (PR:H), so this is an insider or lateral privilege-escalation issue rather than an unauthenticated internet-facing takeover, and no action by an existing system administrator is required for the escalation to succeed (UI:N). A vendor patch is available in Kiteworks Core 9.5.1; no public exploit code or confirmed active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Upgrade Kiteworks Core to version 9.5.1 or later, which is the vendor-released fix for this improper access control issue (vendor advisory: https://github.com/kiteworks/security-advisories/security/advisories/GHSA-qx8c-x3hv-c25g). Because exploitation requires an existing delegated-admin account, immediate compensating actions should focus on reducing the population of accounts that can reach the vulnerable import path: audit all delegated administrator accounts and revoke or narrow any that hold administrative permissions they no longer need, and temporarily suspend delegation of the permission(s) that grant access to the integration-credential import function until patching completes - the trade-off being that legitimate delegated workflows involving credential import will be blocked during that window. Additionally, monitor and alert on integration-credential creation or import events originating from delegated-admin sessions, and review existing integration credentials to detect any unapproved or unexpectedly privileged creations, rotating those credentials as a precaution; note that credential rotation will require reconfiguration of the dependent integrations. No public exploit code has been identified, so these steps are preventative hardening rather than emergency containment, but the vendor patch should be applied as the primary and definitive remedy.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The flaw is an improper access control (CWE-284) issue in the administrative import workflow of Kiteworks Core, a secure file sharing and content collaboration platform. Kiteworks supports delegated administration, where an administrator is granted a narrow set of administrative permissions rather than full system rights. The import function that ingests an integration credential is supposed to check whether the caller holds the authority to create that specific privileged credential, but the authorization check is missing or insufficient. As a result, a delegated administrator whose role grants only one narrow administrative permission can supply or trigger an import that mints a credential with system-administrator-level integration privileges, effectively bypassing the intended least-privilege delegation model. The affected product is identified by CPE cpe:2.3:a:kiteworks:core:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*, with EUVD-2026-90285 listing core versions from 0 up to (but not including) 9.5.1. The CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H confirms network reachability and full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact on the vulnerable component, while the PR:H metric reflects that the attacker must already hold valid delegated-administrator credentials - the same nuance emphasized in the independent assessment.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
PR:H because a valid delegated-admin account is required; AV:N/AC:L for the network-reachable import function with no special conditions; C/I/A:H as the outcome is full system-admin control.
Primary rating from Vendor (cisa-cg).
CVSS VectorVendor: cisa-cg
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
An administrative import function in Kiteworks Core did not verify that the requesting administrator was entitled to create the privileged integration credential being imported. A delegated administrator holding a single narrowly scoped administrative permission could therefore obtain full system administrator privileges, without any action by an existing system administrator.
Technical POC Analysis
Evidence basis: GHSA-qx8c-x3hv-c25g only.
Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.
Executive ViewAI
Kiteworks Core versions prior to 9.5.1 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows an authenticated delegated administrator with only a single narrowly scoped permission to obtain full system administrator privileges. This could enable an insider or compromised account to access and manipulate sensitive files, settings, and integrations, undermining the security of the organization's secure file sharing environment. Leadership should prioritize patching because the vulnerability affects any organization using the affected Kiteworks Core versions and could lead to data breaches or operational disruption.
Apply vendor patch.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Unauthenticated attackers who know a target's email address can take over Kiteworks Core accounts that use locally store
Improper certificate-assignment controls in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker
Stored cross-site scripting in Kiteworks Core (all versions prior to 9.5.0) enables unauthenticated attackers to persist
Authentication bypass in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway (versions before 9.5.0) lets unauthenticated remote attacker
Server-side request forgery in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway (versions before 9.5.0) lets a remote, unauthenticated
Server-side request forgery in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway before 9.5.0 allows a remote, unauthenticated sender t
Unauthenticated server-side request forgery in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway before version 9.5.0 lets a remote att
Server-side request forgery in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway before 9.5.0 allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker
Server-side request forgery in Kiteworks Email Protection Gateway (all versions before 9.5.0) lets a remote, unauthentic
Command injection in Kiteworks Core's internal cluster-management function allows an attacker who already has code execu
Sandbox escape in Kiteworks Core's document-conversion feature (CVE-2026-102125, CVSS 8.8) allows code already executing
Authenticated privilege escalation in Kiteworks PDN (the Accellion-line private data network) before version 9.1.0 lets
EUVD-2026-90285
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
GitHub
Exploit-DB