Critical Privilege escalation exploit reference

CVE-2025-59693 — Improper Privilege Management in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware

The Chassis Management Board in Entrust nShield Connect XC, nShield 5c, and nShield HSMi through 13.6.11, or 13.7 (patched in 13.6.12 (LTS) and 13.9.0 (STS)), allows a physically proximate attacker to obtain debug access and escalate privileges by bypassing the tamper label and opening the chassis without leaving evidence, and accessing the JTAG connector. This is called F02.

Published Dec 2, 2025 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: mitre

Moderate

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

EPSS 0.9% (30-day exploitation probability)+9
Technical severity (critical)+10
CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5
Automatable exploitation (SSVC)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

0.9%

ahead of 59% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026

Affects

Entrust

Nshield 5c Firmware and 4 more

CVSS base

9.8

Critical · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

Proof of concept

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

Yes

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware, Entrust Nshield Connect Xc Base Firmware, Entrust Nshield Connect Xc High Firmware…).
The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (privilege escalation), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Entrust	Nshield 5c Firmware	< 13.6.12≥ 13.7.3 and < 13.9.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Entrust	Nshield Connect Xc Base Firmware	< 13.6.12≥ 13.7.3 and < 13.9.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Entrust	Nshield Connect Xc High Firmware	< 13.6.12≥ 13.7.3 and < 13.9.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Entrust	Nshield Connect Xc Mid Firmware	< 13.6.12≥ 13.7.3 and < 13.9.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Entrust	Nshield Hsmi Firmware	< 13.6.12≥ 13.7.3 and < 13.9.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

None

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
9.8	CVSS 3.1	Critical	3.9	5.9	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 via NIST National Vulnerability Database
9.8	CVSS 3.1	Critical	—	—	CISA-ADP via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.90%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPS

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 13, 2026
CVSS changed · 9.8
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Modified
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
2025
CVE published
Dec 2, 2025 · mitre

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

4 on the record

github.com/advisories/GHSA-j3px-xpp5-mpfc
NIST National Vulnerability Database
www.entrust.com/use-case/why-use-an-hsm
Product, NIST National Vulnerability Database
github.com/google/security-research/security/advisories/GHSA-6q4x-m86j-gfwj
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, NIST National Vulnerability Database
www.entrust.com/knowledgebase/hardware/understanding-nshield-security-advisory-septem
NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Entrust
every CVE for this vendor

Privilege escalation
same class

CWE-269
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Critical CVE-2025-59703 Improper Access Control in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware Dec 2, 2025
Medium CVE-2025-59704 Improper Authentication in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware Dec 2, 2025
Medium CVE-2025-59705 Improper Privilege Management in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware Dec 2, 2025
Critical CVE-2025-59695 Missing Authentication for Critical Function in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware Dec 2, 2025
Low CVE-2025-59696 Entrust nShield Connect XC, nShield 5c, and nShield HSMi through 13.6.11, or 13.7… Dec 2, 2025
High CVE-2025-59697 Improper Privilege Management in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware Dec 2, 2025

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2025-59693 is "Improper Privilege Management in Entrust Nshield 5c Firmware", rated Critical. It affects Nshield 5c Firmware (Entrust); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 9.8 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.90% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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