CVE-2025-26211 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in the GibbonEdu Gibbon platform, affecting versions prior to 29.0.00. Gibbon is an open-source school management system widely used for educational administration. CSRF vulnerabilities occur when an attacker tricks an authenticated user into submitting a forged request to a web application, causing the application to perform unwanted actions on behalf of the user without their consent. In this case, the vulnerability allows remote attackers to exploit the lack of proper CSRF protections in Gibbon, potentially leading to unauthorized state-changing operations. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 3.7, indicating a low severity level. The vector string (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N) shows that the attack can be performed remotely over the network without privileges or user interaction, but requires high attack complexity. The impact is limited to integrity, with no confidentiality or availability impact. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches or mitigation links are provided in the source information. The vulnerability stems from missing or insufficient anti-CSRF tokens or mechanisms in the affected Gibbon versions, allowing attackers to forge requests that modify data or settings within the system under the context of an authenticated user session.

For European organizations, particularly educational institutions using Gibbon for school management, this vulnerability could allow attackers to perform unauthorized actions such as modifying user data, changing configurations, or manipulating records without proper authorization. Although the impact is limited to integrity and the severity is low, the risk is non-negligible because unauthorized changes in educational data can disrupt administrative processes, affect student records, and undermine trust in the system. The lack of confidentiality and availability impact reduces the risk of data leaks or service outages. However, since the attack requires no user interaction and no privileges, any authenticated user session could be targeted remotely, increasing the attack surface. The high attack complexity somewhat mitigates the risk, but organizations with less technical security controls or user awareness may still be vulnerable. Given the critical role of educational data and compliance requirements in Europe (e.g., GDPR), even low-severity integrity issues warrant attention.

Organizations should immediately upgrade Gibbon to version 29.0.00 or later where the CSRF vulnerability is addressed. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious cross-site requests targeting Gibbon endpoints. Enforce strict SameSite cookie attributes (preferably 'Strict') to reduce the risk of CSRF attacks via browser cookies. Review and enhance session management policies to limit session lifetimes and enforce re-authentication for sensitive actions. Educate users and administrators about the risks of CSRF and encourage best practices such as logging out after sessions and avoiding untrusted links while authenticated. Conduct thorough security testing and code reviews to ensure all forms and state-changing requests include anti-CSRF tokens or equivalent protections. Monitor logs for unusual activity that could indicate exploitation attempts. Finally, maintain an incident response plan tailored to web application attacks to quickly address any compromise.