Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2025-32975 lets an unauthenticated attacker bypass SSO authentication in Quest KACE SMA and impersonate legitimate users. The source bundle states this can lead to complete administrative takeover. Because CISA KEV is listed and CVSS is 10.0, exposed affected appliances should be treated as urgent compromise-risk systems.
Executive priority
Immediate action is warranted for any affected KACE SMA deployment. This is a critical authentication bypass with known exploitation status and potential administrative takeover, affecting a system commonly used for endpoint and systems management.
Technical view
The vulnerability is CWE-287 improper authentication in Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance SSO handling. Affected ranges are 13.0.x before 13.0.385, 13.1.x before 13.1.81, 13.2.x before 13.2.183, 14.0.x before 14.0.341 Patch 5, and 14.1.x before 14.1.101 Patch 4. CVSS is 10.0, network exploitable, no privileges or user interaction required.
Likely exposure
Organizations running Quest KACE SMA in the listed affected version ranges are potentially exposed. The CVSS vector indicates network attack surface, but the supplied evidence does not confirm which deployments are internet-facing or whether SSO must be enabled for exploitation.
Exploitation context
CISA KEV inclusion supports known exploitation. The provided sources also reference public disclosure, but this assessment does not include exploit steps, payloads, or operational details. Treat any affected, reachable KACE SMA instance as high priority for investigation and remediation.
Researcher notes
Evidence is strong for impact, affected versions, fixed versions, CVSS, CWE, and KEV status. The supplied bundle does not prove deployment-specific prerequisites, exploit prevalence, or complete forensic indicators. Avoid assuming all KACE SMA installations are internet-exposed.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade KACE SMA to the fixed version for the deployed release branch.
- Apply Quest-provided patches: 14.0.341 Patch 5 or 14.1.101 Patch 4 where applicable.
- Check Quest guidance for any interim controls if immediate upgrade is not possible.
- Inventory all KACE SMA appliances, including internal and externally reachable instances.
- Review SSO and administrative access logs for suspicious impersonation or unexpected administrator activity.
Validation and detection
- Confirm the exact KACE SMA version and patch level on every appliance.
- Compare each instance against the affected ranges and fixed versions in Quest guidance.
- Check whether the appliance is reachable from untrusted networks.
- Review authentication logs for unusual SSO activity or administrator session creation.
- Verify post-upgrade that the appliance reports a fixed version.
Public sources used
Michael Williams reviewed this cited source version on .
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-287: Credential and account abuse lookup
Authentication and credential weaknesses can make valid-account abuse and credential telemetry useful review starting points. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2025-32975 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 10 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- Yes
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CISA KEV status
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H3.96Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
10CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://support.quest.com/kb/4379499/quest-response-to-kace-sma-vulnerabilities-cve-2025-32975-cve-2025-32976-cve-2025-32977-cve-2025-32978CVE reference
- https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jun/22CVE reference
- https://seralys.com/research/CVE-2025-32975.txtCVE reference
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-32975CVE reference · government-resource
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Authentication
Improper Authentication represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.