High severity · published Sep 23, 2025
CVE-2025-1131
Asterisk Unsafe Shell Sourcing in safe_asterisk Leads to Local Privilege Escalation
7.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the safe_asterisk script included with the Asterisk toolkit package. When Asterisk is started via this script (common in SysV init or FreePBX environments), it sources all .sh files located in /etc/asterisk/startup.d/ as root, without validating ownership or permissions. Non-root users with legitimate write access to /etc/asterisk can exploit this behaviour by placing malicious scripts in the startup.d directory, which will then execute with root privileges upon service restart.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 12% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AS
Asterisk · Asterisk
Asterisk <=18.26.2; Asterisk <= 20.15.0; Asterisk <= 21.10.0; Asterisk <= 22.5.0 · source: vendor, NVD
CA
Certified Asterisk · Sangoma
18.9; 18.9; 18.9; 18.9; 18.9; 18.9; +20 more · source: NVD
Affected product
AS
Asterisk
Asterisk
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