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CriticalCISA KEVExploited in the wildPublic exploit

Remote Code Execution in Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateways

IdentifiersCVE-2025-22457CWE-121· Stack-based Buffer Overflow

CVE-2025-22457 is a stack-based buffer overflow affecting Ivanti Connect Secure before 22.7R2.6, Ivanti Policy Secure before 22.7R1.4, and Ivanti ZTA Gateways before 22.8R2.2. The available content further indicates the flaw is in X-Forwarded-For header processing and that vulnerable Ivanti Connect Secure appliances include 22.7R2.5 and earlier. Although initially assessed as a lower-risk denial-of-service issue, subsequent analysis and in-the-wild exploitation showed the memory corruption condition is exploitable for remote code execution. The vulnerability is remotely reachable and does not require authentication.

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ANALYST BRIEF

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.

Successful exploitation allows remote unauthenticated code execution on affected Ivanti edge appliances. The content states the flaw has been actively exploited in the wild since at least mid-March 2025, including by the suspected China-nexus espionage actor UNC5221. Reported post-exploitation activity included deployment of malware such as TRAILBLAZE, BRUSHFIRE, and components of the SPAWN ecosystem, enabling follow-on intrusion activity on high-value perimeter devices.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Where immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure of affected management and access interfaces, prioritize internet-facing Ivanti appliances for emergency response, and monitor aggressively for signs of compromise. The content specifically references use of Ivanti’s Integrity Checker Tool and monitoring for web-process core dumps, ICT statedumps, anomalous client TLS certificates, unexpected malware deployment, and other suspicious activity on affected appliances. Because active exploitation has been observed, mitigation should be treated only as a temporary measure pending upgrade or product retirement.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade affected products to fixed versions or later: Ivanti Connect Secure 22.7R2.6, Ivanti Policy Secure 22.7R1.4, and Ivanti ZTA Gateways 22.8R2.2. The content also repeatedly recommends immediate upgrading of Ivanti Connect Secure appliances to 22.7R2.6 or later. For legacy Pulse Connect Secure 9.x, the content states no patch is available and no future fix is planned; affected organizations should migrate off the unsupported product and retire it.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

3 valid exploits after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos (2 hidden).

VALID 3 / 5 TOTALView more in app
Ashwesker-CVE-2025-22457MaturityPoCVerified exploit

This repository contains a working exploit for CVE-2025-22457, a critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability affecting Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, ZTA Gateways, and Pulse Connect Secure appliances. The exploit is implemented in Ruby (CVE-2025-22457.rb) and is accompanied by a detailed README.md explaining affected versions, exploitation steps, and mitigation advice. The exploit works by sending crafted HTTP/HTTPS requests to the target's web interface, fingerprinting the product version, and then performing a heap spray and buffer overflow attack against the /home/bin/web process, leveraging ROP gadgets in /home/lib/libdsplibs.so. The attacker must provide their own IP and port for the reverse shell payload, which is a standard bash reverse shell. The exploit brute-forces the base address of the target library unless provided directly, and can be tuned for the number of web child processes on the appliance. The code is operational and provides a real reverse shell if successful, but requires the attacker to have network access to the target's HTTPS port and to set up a listener. The exploit is not part of a framework and is a standalone PoC with a customizable payload. The endpoints targeted are the Ivanti web interface and specific internal files/processes on the appliance.

AshweskerDisclosed Jul 13, 2025rubynetwork
CVE-2025-22457MaturityPoCVerified exploit

This repository contains a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2025-22457, a remote unauthenticated stack-based buffer overflow affecting Ivanti Connect Secure, Pulse Connect Secure, Ivanti Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateways (version 22.7r2.4). The main exploit is implemented in Ruby (CVE-2025-22457-main/CVE-2025-22457.rb) and leverages a network-based attack vector over HTTPS. The exploit works by brute-forcing the base address of a shared library (libdsplibs.so) and performing heap spraying to ensure reliable exploitation across multiple web child processes. Upon successful exploitation, the script executes a user-supplied payload (default: a bash reverse shell) on the target, granting remote shell access as the 'nr' user. The repository includes detailed usage instructions, debugging tips, and information about the target environment. No detection scripts or fake code are present; this is a functional PoC exploit.

TRone-uxDisclosed May 25, 2025rubynetwork
CVE-2025-22457MaturityPoCVerified exploit

This repository contains a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2025-22457, a remote unauthenticated stack-based buffer overflow in Ivanti Connect Secure, Pulse Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateway appliances (specifically version 22.7.2.3597). The exploit is implemented in Ruby (CVE-2025-22457.rb) and is designed to achieve remote code execution by sending crafted HTTPS requests to the target's web interface. The exploit brute-forces the base address of a shared library (libdsplibs.so) to construct a ROP chain, ultimately executing a user-supplied shell command (by default, a bash reverse shell). The attacker must provide the target's IP, port, and their own listener IP/port. The exploit includes options to tune the number of web child processes and the base address for more efficient exploitation. The ReadMe.md provides detailed usage instructions, expected results (reverse shell as 'nr' user), and technical background. The main attack vector is network-based, targeting the HTTPS service on the appliance. Notable endpoints include the version fingerprinting CGI and the use of internal binaries and libraries for exploitation.

sfewer-r7Disclosed Apr 9, 2025rubymarkdownnetwork
EXPOSURE SURFACE

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.

VendorProductType
IvantiConnect Secureapplication
IvantiNeurons For Zero-Trust Accessapplication
IvantiPolicy Secureapplication
IvantiZero Trust Access Gatewayapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence9

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware27

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures1

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity21

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.