CVE-2025-22874VulnerabilityPublished 11 Jun 2025Updated 16 Jun 2025

CVE-2025-22874: Go standard library crypto/x509 · Improper Certificate Validation

Affects Go standard library crypto/x509Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 31% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 11 Jun 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Gogithub.com/golang/go/src/crypto/x509`pkg:golang/github.com/golang/go/src/crypto/x509`Other threats	Affected =1.24.0-0	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

2) Audit all applications and services using the crypto/x509 package to identify usage of VerifyOptions with ExtKeyUsageAny and certificate chains containing policy graphs. 3) Where possible, avoid using ExtKeyUsageAny in verification options until the vulnerability is patched. 4) Implement additional certificate validation layers or use external libraries/tools that enforce strict policy validation as a temporary workaround. 5) Monitor network traffic and logs for anomalous certificate validation events or unexpected certificate acceptance. 6) Engage with certificate authorities and PKI administrators to review certificate policies and ensure minimal use of complex policy graphs. 7) Educate developers and security teams about the risks associated with this vulnerability and encourage secure coding practices around certificate validation.

Description

Calling Verify with a VerifyOptions.KeyUsages that contains ExtKeyUsageAny unintentionally disabledpolicy validation. This only affected certificate chains which contain policy graphs, which are rather uncommon.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-22874 can be significant in sectors where Go-based applications are used for secure communications, authentication, or certificate validation workflows. These include financial services, government agencies, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure operators. The improper validation could allow attackers to present malicious certificates that bypass policy validation, potentially enabling man-in-the-middle attacks, unauthorized access, or the acceptance of fraudulent certificates. This undermines trust in TLS/SSL connections and other PKI-based security mechanisms. Given the widespread adoption of Go in cloud-native applications and microservices architectures, European enterprises leveraging Go for internal or external services may face increased risk. The vulnerability's exploitation could lead to data integrity breaches, unauthorized transactions, or compromise of sensitive communications. However, the rarity of policy graphs in certificate chains somewhat limits the attack surface. Still, organizations using advanced certificate policies or custom PKI deployments are at higher risk.

CWE-295Improper Certificate Validation (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
Certificates should be carefully managed and checked to assure that data are encrypted with the intended owner's public key.
Implementation
If certificate pinning is being used, ensure that all relevant properties of the certificate are fully validated before the certificate is pinned, including the hostname.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
TLS Cipher String (opens in a new tab)
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V9.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V1.9.2 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Creating a Rogue Certification Authority Certificate (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Jul 2025, 08:46 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-295

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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