WPS Office: Inadequate Encryption Strength
CVE-2025-2516 is a critical-severity inadequate encryption strength vulnerability in WPS Office from Kingsoft, with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 9.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.14% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
Critical severity: a successful attack would have severe impact.
What to do
- Check which version of WPS Office you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsoft | WPS Office | Not specified in the record | Not stated |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- HighSuccess depends on conditions outside the attacker's control.
- Attack requirements
- NoneThe attack does not depend on a particular deployment or configuration.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of confidentiality on the vulnerable system.
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of integrity on the vulnerable system.
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of availability on the vulnerable system.
- Confidentiality (other systems)
- HighSerious loss of confidentiality on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Integrity (other systems)
- HighSerious loss of integrity on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Availability (other systems)
- HighSerious loss of availability on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber. Scored by CNA (eset.com).
Official description
The use of a weak cryptographic key pair in the signature verification process in WPS Office (Kingsoft) on Windows allows an attacker who successfully recovered the private key to sign components. As older versions of WPS Office did not validate the update server's certificate, an Adversary-In-The-Middle attack was possible allowing updates to be hijacked.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Inadequate Encryption Strength
The product stores or transmits sensitive data using an encryption scheme that is theoretically sound, but is not strong enough for the level of protection required.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Use an encryption scheme that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field.
More Inadequate Encryption Strength vulnerabilities (CWE-326)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other references
Other vulnerabilities in WPS Office
- 9.3 Critical severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
Kingsoft WPS Office Path Traversal Exploited
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.8 High severity
Recent Inadequate Encryption Strength vulnerabilities
- 7.5 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 7.8 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
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