CVE-2025-27696 is an Incorrect Authorization vulnerability (CWE-863) identified in Apache Superset, an open-source data visualization and business intelligence platform maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. The vulnerability affects versions up to and including 4.1.1. It allows authenticated users who possess only read permissions to take ownership of dashboards, charts, or datasets. This means that users who should only be able to view content can escalate their privileges to modify or control these resources, potentially altering data visualizations or datasets without proper authorization. The vulnerability arises from improper enforcement of authorization checks within the application, enabling privilege escalation within the scope of authenticated users. The CVSS v4.0 base score is 5.3 (medium severity), reflecting network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no authentication required beyond low privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), and limited impact primarily on integrity (VI:L) and scope (SI:L). The vulnerability does not affect confidentiality or availability directly, and no known exploits are reported in the wild as of the publication date (May 13, 2025). The Apache Software Foundation has addressed this issue in version 4.1.2 and later, recommending users upgrade promptly to mitigate the risk.

For European organizations using Apache Superset for data analytics and visualization, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to data integrity and trustworthiness of business intelligence outputs. Unauthorized ownership takeover of dashboards or datasets could lead to unauthorized data manipulation, misleading reports, or exposure of sensitive business insights through altered visualizations. This can affect decision-making processes, compliance reporting, and operational transparency. Given that many enterprises and public sector organizations in Europe rely on Apache Superset for critical data workflows, exploitation could undermine data governance and regulatory compliance, especially under GDPR where data integrity and access controls are essential. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability, the integrity impact can indirectly lead to reputational damage, financial loss, or regulatory scrutiny if manipulated data leads to erroneous conclusions or decisions.

European organizations should immediately assess their Apache Superset deployments and upgrade to version 4.1.2 or later, where the authorization flaw is fixed. Beyond upgrading, organizations should audit user permissions to ensure the principle of least privilege is enforced, limiting read permissions to only those users who truly require it. Implementing robust monitoring and alerting on changes to ownership or permissions within Superset can help detect suspicious activities early. Additionally, organizations should review and harden their authentication mechanisms, possibly integrating multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of compromised credentials being used to exploit this vulnerability. Regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on authorization controls in Superset deployments can further reduce risk. Finally, maintaining an inventory of dashboards and datasets with clear ownership and access logs will aid in rapid incident response if exploitation is suspected.