CVE-2025-59694: Entrust nShield Chassis Management Board unprotected boot chain

CVE-2025-59694 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.8 · Published 2025-12-02

Entrust nShield hardware security modules (HSMs) are appliances used to protect cryptographic keys and perform secure operations. An attacker with physical access can persistently modify the Chassis Management Board firmware without any security restrictions or verification, compromising the boot integrity and allowing undetectable, long-term control of the device's security functions including tamper event reporting.

Technologies: Entrust nShield Connect XC, Entrust Nshield 5c, Entrust Nshield Hsmi. Vendors: Entrust.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2025-59694 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2025-59694 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2025-59694?
Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.8, published 2 December 2025.
Which products and versions are affected?
Entrust nShield Connect XC through 13.6.11; Entrust Nshield 5c through 13.6.11; Entrust Nshield Hsmi through 13.6.11, or 13.7.
Is there a fix for CVE-2025-59694?
A patch was published on 2025-09-22: Patches available: version 13.6.12 (LTS) and 13.9.0 (STS) Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2025-59694 attacked?
It is attacked with physical access.
Am I affected by CVE-2025-59694?
Check whether you run Entrust nShield Connect XC, Entrust Nshield 5c or Entrust Nshield Hsmi at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

The vulnerability is an improper access control issue (CWE-1274) in the Chassis Management Board's boot chain implementation. The Cosmo board lacks secure boot protections and does not verify the integrity of firmware before boot or after upgrades. An attacker with physical access can modify the board firmware via JTAG interface or through the unverified firmware upgrade mechanism (accessible with root privileges). Once modified, the firmware changes are persistent and undetectable by the appliance or end user, allowing an attacker to control tamper events, USB access, and the LCD display. The attack vector is physical; patches are available in versions 13.6.12 (LTS) and 13.9.0 (STS).

Affected products

  • Entrust nShield Connect XC through 13.6.11
  • Entrust nShield 5c through 13.6.11
  • Entrust nShield HSMi through 13.6.11, or 13.7

Timeline

  • 2025-09-22: disclosed: Vulnerability initially disclosed via Google Security Research advisory GHSA-6q4x-m86j-gfwj
  • 2025-12-02: advisory: CVE-2025-59694 published to NVD and GitHub Advisory Database
  • 2025-09-22: patched: Patches available: version 13.6.12 (LTS) and 13.9.0 (STS)

References

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