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CVE-2025-10549 EfficientLab, LLC CVE debrief

CVE-2025-10549 documents a DLL hijacking vulnerability in EfficientLab Controlio versions prior to 1.3.95. The root cause is weak folder permissions in the product's installation directory, which allows a local attacker with administrative privileges to place a malicious DLL that the affected service will load. Because the service executes as NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM, successful exploitation results in arbitrary code execution with the highest system privileges. The vulnerability was disclosed publicly on April 23, 2026, and the vendor released a patched version (1.3.95) on April 15, 2026, per their knowledge base article. The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) modified its record on May 19, 2026, with a status of Deferred. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N) yields a base score of 5.1 (Medium), reflecting the local attack vector and high privilege requirement that constrain exploitability. No known exploitation in ransomware campaigns has been reported, and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

Vendor
EfficientLab, LLC
Product
Controlio
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.1
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2026-04-23
Original CVE updated
2026-05-19
Advisory published
2026-04-23
Advisory updated
2026-05-19

Who should care

Organizations deploying EfficientLab Controlio for endpoint monitoring and employee surveillance should prioritize patching, as the vulnerability enables complete system compromise if exploited by a malicious administrator or attacker who has gained administrative access. Security teams managing Windows endpoints with software installation directories requiring restricted permissions should review similar configurations across their environment.

Technical summary

The vulnerability exists in EfficientLab Controlio before version 1.3.95 due to insecure default permissions on the installation directory. The affected service runs with SYSTEM privileges and loads DLLs from its installation directory without adequate path validation. A local attacker with administrative access can exploit this by placing a crafted DLL in the installation directory, which the service will load on restart, achieving arbitrary code execution with NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM privileges. The attack requires local access and high privileges, limiting its exploitability but maximizing impact if successful. The vendor addressed this in version 1.3.95 by presumably correcting directory permissions or hardening DLL loading behavior.

Defensive priority

medium

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade EfficientLab Controlio to version 1.3.95 or later to remediate the DLL hijacking vulnerability
  • Review and restrict file system permissions on the Controlio installation directory to prevent unauthorized DLL placement
  • Implement application whitelisting or DLL load order hardening to mitigate DLL hijacking risks
  • Monitor for anomalous DLL loads in the Controlio service process as a detection control
  • Audit local administrative access to systems running Controlio, as exploitation requires high privileges
  • Verify patch deployment across all endpoints running Controlio through asset inventory and vulnerability scanning
  • resourceLinkAnnotations: ref-4, ref-5, ref-6

Evidence notes

The vulnerability description and affected product version are sourced from the official CVE record and NVD entry. The vendor patch information is derived from the Controlio knowledge base reference. The CVSS vector and score are taken from NVD data. The weakness classification (CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element) is documented in the NVD record. The disclosure timeline aligns with the CVE published date of April 23, 2026, and the vendor's April 15, 2026 patch release date as stated in their knowledge base article.

Official resources

2026-04-23