Local Privilege Escalation to SYSTEM via DLL Search Path Hijack in Siemens SINEC NMS / UMC
CVE-2026-25656 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Siemens SINEC NMS (all versions) and the SINEC NMS User Management Component (UMC) in versions prior to V2.15.2.1. A low-privileged local user can improperly modify a configuration file in a way that influences DLL loading (uncontrolled search path element). The product subsequently loads attacker-controlled DLLs (described in reporting as involving OpenSSL configuration being loaded from an unsecured location), which can result in execution of arbitrary code in the context of the affected elevated process/service, up to SYSTEM. (ZDI-CAN-28108; Siemens advisory SSA-311973).
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
9 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Unknown (CVE referenced in an ICS advisory summary for Siemens SINEC NMS).
Local privilege escalation / elevated code execution in Siemens SINEC NMS and its User Management Component (UMC) via configuration-influenced DLL loading (uncontrolled search path), potentially yielding SYSTEM-level execution.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.