IRONSMITHINTEL
HIGHCVSS7.2
|
Actively Exploited
|CISA KEV|CVE-2025-2749|Auth: high — administrative privileges|Reboot: required|Manual only

Kentico Xperience Path Traversal Vulnerability

Kentico Xperience contains a path traversal vulnerability that could allow an authenticated user's Staging Sync Server to upload arbitrary data to path relative locations.

Published Mar 24, 2025 · Updated May 16, 2026
Why patchRisk explained in plain English
Worst-case scenarioIf unpatched

A remote attacker, with administrative privileges, can achieve full data confidentiality loss, arbitrary modification of data, complete denial of service or system unavailability. Federal agencies are required to remediate by 2026-05-04 under CISA BOD 22-01.

How the attack worksNo clicks needed

This is a Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Kentico Kentico Xperience. An authenticated remote code execution in Kentico Xperience allows authenticated users Staging Sync Server to upload arbitrary data to path relative locations. This results in path traversal and arbitrary file upload, including content that can be executed server side leading to remote code execution.This issue affects Kentico Xperience through 13.0.178. Exploitation requires remote network access, low attack complexity, an administrative account, and no user interaction required.

Am I affected?Quick check

Probably yes if any of these apply:

IT Security
Running xperience: v ≤ 13.0.178
Real-world incidentsWhat we've seen

Active exploitation documented in the wild. Threat-research write-up: https://labs.watchtowr.com/bypassing-authentication-like-its-the-90s-pre-auth-rce-chain-s-in-kentico-xperience-cms/

How to patch

Manual remediation steps

Apply the Vendor Patch

This vulnerability is in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — apply the vendor's security update as soon as possible.

CISA required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

References

    1
    Vendor advisory: https://devnet.kentico.com/download/hotfixes
    1
    NVD entry: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-2749
    1
    CISA KEV: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-2749
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