High severity · published Feb 24, 2026
CVE-2025-40538
A broken access control vulnerability exists in Serv-U which when exploited, gives a malicious actor the ability to create a system admin user and execute arbitrary code as a…
7.2
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A broken access control vulnerability exists in Serv-U which when exploited, gives a malicious actor the ability to create a system admin user and execute arbitrary code as a privileged account via domain admin or group admin privileges.
This issue requires administrative privileges to abuse. On Windows deployments, the risk is scored as a medium because services frequently run under less-privileged service accounts by default.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 45% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
SE
Serv-U · SolarWinds
before 15.5.4 · source: NVD
In the news
VulnerabilityCritical
SolarWinds Patches 4 Critical Serv-U 15.5 Flaws Allowing Root Code Execution
SolarWinds has released updates to address four critical security flaws in its Serv-U file transfer software that, if successfully exploited, could result in remote code execution.
The vulnerabilities, all rated 9.1 on the CVSS scoring system, are listed below -
CVE-2025-40538 - A broken access control vulnerability that allows an attacker to create a system admin user and execute arbitrary
Feb 25, 2026·The Hacker News
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-40538
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-40538
Release Notes
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/servu/content/release_notes/servu_15-5-4_release_notes.htm
Vendor Advisory
https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/CVE-2025-40538
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SolarWinds Serv-U before 15.2.2 allows Unauthenticated Macro Injection
