NetSPI has uncovered a critical vulnerability in Forescout SecureConnector, a security agent meant to enforce endpoint compliance. This same tool—designed for system hardening—could be abused by attackers to hijack machines remotely. Tracked as CVE-2025-4660, the bug received a CVSSv4 base score of 8.7 and affects SecureConnector versions 11.1.02.1019 through 11.3.6 on Windows.
“Ironically, in versions 11.1.02.1019 through 11.3.6 on Windows, it can be turned into a remote attacker’s best friend,” the report notes.
The vulnerability lies in how the SecureConnector agent uses a named pipe called _FS_SC_UNINSTALL_PIPE for inter-process communication. Shockingly, this pipe was configured with remote access rights granted to the ‘Everyone’ group, giving any user on the network full control.
“This allowed a low-privileged attacker to… send a redirect command to the SecureConnector agent… and point the agent to a rogue CounterACT server,” the report explains.
In short, an attacker could:
- Connect to the named pipe remotely.
- Redirect the agent to an attacker-controlled server.
- Bypass certificate pinning by supplying a thumbprint of all zeros.
- Execute arbitrary commands on the endpoint as SYSTEM.
SecureConnector communicates with its backend CounterACT server using binary RPC commands over the named pipe, followed by a length-prefixed, XML-based protocol. A key function allows redirection to a new server, and attackers can manipulate it by:
- Supplying a fake host and port.
- Bypassing TLS certificate checks with a null thumbprint.
- Establishing a rogue command-and-control (C2) session.
Once redirected, the rogue server can send commands such as:
- Process and directory listing
- File downloads
- Full command execution as SYSTEM
Administrators can also reference NetSPI’s GitHub page for proof-of-concept details.
According to NetSPI, only Windows deployments of SecureConnector are vulnerable. Linux and macOS versions of the agent are not affected.
Forescout has released a patch in version 11.3.7 of SecureConnector. All organizations using affected versions are urged to upgrade immediately.
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