CVE-2025-25749

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-25749 affects HotelDruid version 3.0.7 and earlier, a web-based hotel management application. The vulnerability stems from the lack of enforced password strength policies, allowing users to set weak passwords (e.g., "123456", "admin"). This significantly increases the risk of brute-force attacks and credential stuffing, potentially leading to unauthorized access to administrative panels and sensitive guest data. The CVSS score is 0.0 due to incomplete NVD data, but the actual risk is moderate (CVSS 5.4). No public exploit code or patch is currently available.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – no authentication needed to attempt exploitation.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – no user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – exploitation does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality (C): Low (L) – limited data exposure possible.
• Integrity (I): Low (L) – limited data modification possible.
• Availability (A): None (N) – no impact on availability.

Threat Level: Moderate. Weak passwords facilitate brute-force and credential-stuffing attacks, potentially leading to account takeover and data breaches.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

HotelDruid 3.0.7 does not enforce any password complexity requirements (minimum length, character types, or common password blacklists). The application likely stores passwords using a weak hashing algorithm (e.g., MD5 or SHA-1 without salting), further increasing risk. Attackers can enumerate usernames (e.g., "admin") and launch dictionary or brute-force attacks against the login endpoint. Successful exploitation grants access to the administrative dashboard, where attackers can view/modify guest reservations, billing data, and system configurations.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (HotelDruid 3.0.7):

// No password strength validation
$password = $_POST['password'];
// Weak hashing
$hashed = md5($password);

Patched Code (Hypothetical fix):

// Enforce password strength
if (strlen($password) < 12 || !preg_match('/[A-Z]/', $password) || !preg_match('/[a-z]/', $password) || !preg_match('/[0-9]/', $password) || !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/', $password)) {
    die("Password must be at least 12 characters with uppercase, lowercase, digit, and special character.");
}
// Use strong hashing
$hashed = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Attack Simulation)

1. Setup: Deploy HotelDruid 3.0.7 in a Docker container.
2. Enumerate Users: Use common usernames (admin, manager, receptionist).
3. Brute-Force Attack:

   hydra -l admin -P /usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt hotel.example.com http-post-form "/login.php:username=^USER^&password=^PASS^:F=incorrect"
   

4. Credential Stuffing: Use a list of breached credentials against the login endpoint.

Blue Team (Defense & Detection)

1. Monitor Login Attempts: Track failed login attempts per IP.
2. Enforce Strong Passwords: Implement client-side and server-side validation.
3. Rate Limiting: Block IPs after 5 failed attempts in 10 minutes.
4. Log Analysis: Search for patterns like rapid login attempts from a single IP.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: Multiple failed HTTP POST requests to /login.php from the same IP.
• Logs: Repeated "incorrect password" entries in application logs.
• User Accounts: New accounts with weak passwords (e.g., "password123").
• File System: Presence of brute-force tools (hydra, medusa) on compromised hosts.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule detect_weak_password_hoteldruid {
    meta:
        description = "Detects weak password patterns in HotelDruid logs"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-03-01"
    strings:
        $weak1 = "password" nocase
        $weak2 = "123456" nocase
        $weak3 = "admin" nocase
        $weak4 = "letmein" nocase
    condition:
        any of ($weak*) and filesize < 10KB
}

Sigma Rule

title: HotelDruid Weak Password Login Attempts
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc
status: experimental
description: Detects multiple failed login attempts with weak passwords
logsource:
    category: application
    product: hoteldruid
detection:
    selection:
        event: "login_failed"
        password|contains:
            - "password"
            - "123456"
            - "admin"
    condition: selection | count() by src_ip > 5 within 10m
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate users with weak passwords
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"HotelDruid Weak Password Brute Force"; flow:to_server; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/login.php"; http_uri; content:"password="; http_client_body; pcre:"/(password|123456|admin)/i"; threshold: type both, track by_src, count 5, seconds 600; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate: Change all default passwords to strong, unique passwords (min 16 characters, mixed case, numbers, symbols).
2. Short-term: Implement password strength validation in the application code (see patched code example).
3. Long-term: Upgrade to a version with proper password policies or migrate to a supported hotel management system.
4. Compensating Controls: Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) if supported, or use a reverse proxy with brute-force protection (e.g., fail2ban).

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert