CVE-2025-5317

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-5317 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Mac (BEST) that allows a local user with administrative (sudo) privileges to bypass the configured uninstall password protection. The vulnerability stems from an improper access restriction to the application directory (/Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/) and related directories within /Library/Bitdefender/AVP. An attacker with sudo access can manually remove these directories without providing the required uninstall password, effectively bypassing a critical security control designed to prevent unauthorized uninstallation of the endpoint protection software.

This vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where uninstall password protection is a key security measure to prevent tampering with endpoint security software. While the CVSS score is 0.0 (likely due to incomplete scoring), the actual risk is significant for organizations relying on this feature to maintain security posture.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to a software supply chain or package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby). It is a local privilege escalation issue in a commercial endpoint security product for macOS.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

• Attack Vector (AV): Local (L) – The attacker must have local access to the system.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions or race conditions are required.
• Privileges Required (PR): High (H) – The attacker needs sudo privileges.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user interaction is required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – The vulnerability does not affect resources beyond the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality (C): High (H) – The attacker can remove security software, potentially exposing sensitive data.
• Integrity (I): High (H) – The attacker can tamper with the security software installation.
• Availability (A): High (H) – The attacker can completely remove the security software.

Threat Level: High (7.0) – While the CVSS score is 0.0 (likely due to incomplete scoring), the actual threat level is high because it bypasses a critical security control (uninstall password) and requires only sudo privileges, which are common in enterprise environments.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the uninstall protection mechanism of Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Mac. The software is designed to require a password before allowing uninstallation. However, due to improper access restrictions on the application directory and related directories, a user with sudo privileges can bypass this protection.

Root Cause: The application directory (/Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/) and the related directories within /Library/Bitdefender/AVP are not properly protected against deletion by users with sudo privileges. The uninstall password check is only enforced through the GUI or command-line uninstaller, but the underlying file system permissions allow a privileged user to simply delete the directories using standard file system commands.

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker gains sudo privileges on the target macOS system.
2. Attacker opens a terminal and uses sudo rm -rf to delete the application directory and related directories.
3. The uninstall password is never requested because the deletion is performed at the file system level, bypassing the application's uninstall logic.
4. The Bitdefender endpoint protection is effectively removed from the system.

Impact: An attacker can remove the endpoint security software without authorization, leaving the system unprotected. This could be used as a precursor to further malicious activities, such as installing malware or exfiltrating data.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (Conceptual): The vulnerable version likely relies on application-level password checks for uninstallation but does not enforce file system permissions to prevent deletion of the application directory by privileged users.

# Vulnerable: No file system protection against deletion
# The uninstall password is only checked in the GUI/CLI uninstaller
# But sudo rm -rf bypasses this check
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Bitdefender/AVP/

Patched Code (Conceptual): The patched version (7.20.52.200087) likely implements file system protections, such as:

• Setting immutable flags on the application directory (using chflags schg).
• Using macOS's System Integrity Protection (SIP) or similar mechanisms.
• Implementing a kernel-level driver that prevents deletion of the application directory even with sudo privileges.

# Patched: File system protections prevent deletion
# The application directory is protected with immutable flags
sudo chflags schg /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
# Attempting to delete now fails
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
# Output: rm: /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/: Operation not permitted

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• macOS system with Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Mac version < 7.20.52.200087 installed.
• Sudo privileges on the system.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Verify the vulnerability:

   # Check if the application directory exists
   ls -la /Applications/ | grep "Endpoint Security"
   

2. Attempt to delete the application directory:

   # Use sudo to bypass file system permissions
   sudo rm -rf /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
   

3. Delete related directories:

   sudo rm -rf /Library/Bitdefender/AVP/
   

4. Verify removal:

   # Check that the application is no longer present
   ls -la /Applications/ | grep "Endpoint Security"
   # Should return no output
   

Expected Outcome: The Bitdefender endpoint protection is completely removed from the system without requiring the uninstall password.

Blue Team

Detection and Prevention:

1. Monitor for suspicious file deletion commands:

   • Alert on sudo rm -rf commands targeting /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/ or /Library/Bitdefender/AVP/.
   • Use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to monitor for these patterns.

2. Audit sudo usage:

   • Enable detailed sudo logging to track who is executing privileged commands.
   • Review sudo logs for unusual activity related to Bitdefender directories.

3. Implement file integrity monitoring (FIM):

   • Monitor the integrity of the Bitdefender application directory and related files.
   • Alert on any deletion or modification of these files.

4. Restrict sudo access:

   • Limit sudo privileges to only necessary users.
   • Use sudoers file to restrict which commands can be executed with sudo.

5. Apply the patch:

   • Upgrade to Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Mac version 7.20.52.200087 or later.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

File System IOCs:

• Deletion of /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
• Deletion of /Library/Bitdefender/AVP/
• Absence of Bitdefender processes in process list

Process IOCs:

• Execution of sudo rm -rf /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
• Execution of sudo rm -rf /Library/Bitdefender/AVP/

Log IOCs:

• Sudo log entries showing deletion of Bitdefender directories
• System log entries showing removal of Bitdefender kernel extensions

Network IOCs:

• No specific network IOCs, as this is a local vulnerability

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_5317_Bitdefender_Uninstall_Bypass {
    meta:
        description = "Detects attempts to bypass Bitdefender uninstall password protection by deleting application directories"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-5317"
        severity = "high"
    strings:
        $s1 = "/Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/" nocase
        $s2 = "/Library/Bitdefender/AVP/" nocase
        $s3 = "rm -rf" nocase
    condition:
        all of ($s1, $s2, $s3)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-5317 - Bitdefender Uninstall Password Bypass
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects attempts to bypass Bitdefender uninstall password protection by deleting application directories
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-5317
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: macos
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '/rm'
        CommandLine|contains|all:
            - '/Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/'
            - '/Library/Bitdefender/AVP/'
            - '-rf'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate uninstallation by authorized administrators
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert ip any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-5317 - Bitdefender Uninstall Password Bypass Attempt"; content:"rm -rf"; content:"/Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/"; content:"/Library/Bitdefender/AVP/"; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Upgrade Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Mac to version 7.20.52.200087 or later.
2. Review and restrict sudo privileges to only necessary users.
3. Enable detailed logging of sudo commands and file system changes.

Long-term Mitigations:

1. Implement file integrity monitoring for critical security software directories.
2. Use macOS security features such as System Integrity Protection (SIP) and FileVault.
3. Conduct regular security audits of endpoint protection configurations.
4. Implement the principle of least privilege for all user accounts.

Workarounds (if patching is not immediately possible):

• Use macOS's chflags command to set immutable flags on the Bitdefender directories:

  sudo chflags schg /Applications/Endpoint Security for Mac.app/
  sudo chflags schg /Library/Bitdefender/AVP/
  

• Monitor for unauthorized deletion attempts using the provided detection rules.

Valters IT