CVE-2025-8049

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-8049 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in OpenText Flipper version 3.1.2, stemming from insufficient granularity of access control (CWE-1220). A low-privilege user can exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels to elevate their privileges within the application. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or patch details are currently available. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 0.0 (unscored) and an EPSS score of 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood at this time. However, the lack of a patch and the potential for privilege escalation make this a significant risk for organizations using the affected version.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 0.0 (Unscored)
• Vector: UNKNOWN
• Attack Vector (AV): UNKNOWN
• Attack Complexity (AC): UNKNOWN
• Privileges Required (PR): Low (based on description)
• User Interaction (UI): UNKNOWN
• Scope (S): UNKNOWN
• Confidentiality (C): UNKNOWN
• Integrity (I): UNKNOWN
• Availability (A): UNKNOWN
• EPSS Score: 0.0% (Low exploitation probability)
• Threat Level: Medium (due to privilege escalation potential and unpatched status)

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability lies in the access control implementation of OpenText Flipper 3.1.2. The application fails to enforce proper granularity in its access control checks, allowing a low-privilege user to bypass intended restrictions and perform actions reserved for higher-privilege roles. This is a classic case of CWE-1220: Insufficient Granularity of Access Control, where the system uses overly broad or coarse-grained permissions, enabling privilege escalation.

The exact mechanism is not publicly documented, but based on the description, it likely involves manipulating API requests, modifying user roles, or exploiting a missing permission check in a specific function. The attacker must already have low-privilege access to the application (e.g., a standard user account). No authentication bypass is required; the flaw is in the authorization layer.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

No patched version or code diff is available. The vulnerable version is 3.1.2. The fix would involve implementing more granular access control checks, such as role-based access control (RBAC) with explicit permission validation for each sensitive operation.

Vulnerable Code (Hypothetical Example):

def delete_user(user_id):
    # Missing check for admin role
    db.execute("DELETE FROM users WHERE id = ?", (user_id,))

Patched Code (Hypothetical Example):

def delete_user(user_id, current_user):
    if current_user.role != 'admin':
        raise PermissionError("Only admins can delete users")
    db.execute("DELETE FROM users WHERE id = ?", (user_id,))

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• Low-privilege user account on Flipper 3.1.2
• Network access to the Flipper application

Exploitation Steps:

1. Authenticate as a low-privilege user.
2. Enumerate API endpoints or functions that perform privileged actions (e.g., user management, configuration changes).
3. Attempt to call these endpoints directly, bypassing UI restrictions.
4. If successful, escalate privileges by modifying your own role or creating an admin account.

Example (Hypothetical):

# Attempt to add admin role to current user
curl -X POST https://target.flipper/api/users/self/role \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <low_priv_token>" \
  -d '{"role": "admin"}'

Blue Team

Detection Steps:

1. Monitor for unusual API calls from low-privilege users to sensitive endpoints.
2. Alert on role modification events (e.g., user changing own role).
3. Review access logs for failed authorization attempts followed by success.

Hunting Query (Splunk):

index=flipper sourcetype=access_logs
| search user_role="user" AND endpoint="/api/users/*/role" AND method=POST
| stats count by user, src_ip, status
| where status=200

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: Unusual POST requests to /api/users/*/role or similar privilege escalation endpoints.
• Logs: Access logs showing low-privilege users accessing admin-only endpoints.
• System: New admin accounts created by non-admin users.
• File: Modified configuration files indicating privilege changes.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_8049_Privilege_Escalation {
    meta:
        description = "Detects privilege escalation attempts in OpenText Flipper 3.1.2"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2025-8049"
    strings:
        $s1 = "role" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "admin" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "privilege" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        any of ($s*) and filesize < 10KB
}

Sigma Rule

title: Privilege Escalation via Insufficient Access Control in OpenText Flipper
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc
status: experimental
description: Detects attempts to escalate privileges by modifying user roles in OpenText Flipper 3.1.2
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: application
    product: flipper
detection:
    selection:
        event: "role_change"
        user_role: "user"
        new_role: "admin"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"CVE-2025-8049 - Privilege Escalation Attempt in OpenText Flipper"; flow:to_server; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/api/users/"; http_uri; content:"role"; http_uri; pcre:"/role/i"; classtype:attempted-admin; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Isolate Flipper 3.1.2 instances from untrusted networks.
2. Review and tighten access control configurations.
3. Monitor logs for suspicious privilege escalation attempts.

Long-term Fix:

• Apply vendor patch when available (currently UNKNOWN).
• Upgrade to a patched version once released.
• Implement additional security controls such as Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block unauthorized role changes.

Workaround:

• Manually enforce granular access control by modifying application configuration files (if possible) to restrict sensitive operations to admin users only.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers