CVE-2024-25652 is a high-severity vulnerability identified in Delinea's Privileged Access Management (PAM) product, Secret Server version 11.4. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-287, which relates to improper authentication. Specifically, the flaw allows a user who has been granted the "Administer Reports" permission or who has access to the Report functionality through UNLIMITED ADMIN MODE to gain unauthorized access to remote sessions initiated by legitimate users. This unauthorized access is facilitated by exploiting information that can be obtained via the Custom Legacy Report functionality. Essentially, the vulnerability arises because the system does not adequately enforce authentication controls when accessing sensitive remote session data through reporting features, allowing privilege escalation or lateral movement within the environment. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.6, reflecting a high severity with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), high attack complexity (AC:H), requiring privileges (PR:H), user interaction (UI:R), scope change (S:C), and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, but the vulnerability's nature and impact make it a significant risk for organizations using this version of Delinea Secret Server.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be substantial. Delinea Secret Server is widely used for managing privileged credentials and sessions, which are critical for securing access to sensitive systems and data. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive session information, enabling attackers to hijack or impersonate privileged sessions. This compromises confidentiality and integrity of critical systems and could lead to further lateral movement or privilege escalation within the network. The availability of systems could also be affected if attackers disrupt or manipulate remote sessions. Given the regulatory environment in Europe, including GDPR, unauthorized access to privileged sessions could result in significant compliance violations, financial penalties, and reputational damage. Organizations in sectors such as finance, healthcare, government, and critical infrastructure, which heavily rely on PAM solutions, are particularly at risk.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Immediately assess if they are running Delinea Secret Server version 11.4 and restrict the "Administer Reports" permission strictly to trusted personnel only, minimizing the number of users with this access. 2) Disable or limit use of the Custom Legacy Report functionality until a patch or official fix is available. 3) Implement enhanced monitoring and logging around report generation and remote session access to detect any anomalous or unauthorized activity. 4) Employ network segmentation and strict access controls to limit exposure of the Secret Server to only necessary administrative users and systems. 5) Engage with Delinea support for any available patches or workarounds and plan for prompt application once released. 6) Conduct regular privileged access reviews and enforce least privilege principles to reduce the attack surface. 7) Consider multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all privileged users to add an additional security layer.