CVE-2025-29972 is a critical Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability identified in the Microsoft Azure Storage Resource Provider (SRP). SSRF vulnerabilities occur when an attacker can manipulate a server to send crafted requests to unintended locations, potentially accessing internal or protected resources. In this case, the vulnerability allows an authorized attacker—meaning one with some level of legitimate access—to perform network spoofing via the Azure SRP. This could enable the attacker to make the Azure service send requests to arbitrary internal or external endpoints, bypassing network restrictions or firewalls. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.9 indicates a critical severity, reflecting high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, with low attack complexity and no user interaction required. The scope is changed (S:C), meaning the vulnerability affects resources beyond the initially vulnerable component. The vector indicates network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), privileges required (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), and high impact on confidentiality (C:H), integrity (I:H), and availability (A:H). Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the potential for exploitation is significant given the critical nature and the widespread use of Azure services globally. The lack of specified affected versions suggests the vulnerability may impact multiple or all versions of the Azure SRP until patched. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-918, which covers SSRF issues. This vulnerability could be leveraged to access internal cloud infrastructure, metadata services, or other sensitive endpoints, potentially leading to data exfiltration, service disruption, or lateral movement within cloud environments.

For European organizations, the impact of this SSRF vulnerability in Azure SRP is substantial. Many enterprises and public sector entities in Europe rely heavily on Microsoft Azure for cloud storage and infrastructure services. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data stored in Azure, disruption of cloud services, and compromise of internal network resources. Given the criticality of the vulnerability and the high privileges required, attackers with legitimate access—such as compromised employee accounts or insider threats—could leverage this flaw to escalate their access and move laterally within cloud environments. This could result in breaches of personal data protected under GDPR, leading to regulatory penalties and reputational damage. Additionally, disruption of cloud storage services could impact business continuity and critical operations. The ability to spoof network requests might also allow attackers to bypass network segmentation and firewall rules, increasing the attack surface and complicating incident response. European organizations with hybrid or multi-cloud architectures that integrate Azure SRP are particularly at risk, as this vulnerability could serve as a pivot point to other connected systems.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize the following actions: 1) Apply patches or updates from Microsoft as soon as they become available for the Azure Storage Resource Provider. Although no patch links are currently provided, monitoring Microsoft security advisories and Azure update channels is critical. 2) Restrict and audit privileged access to Azure SRP components, ensuring that only necessary personnel have the required permissions, reducing the risk of exploitation by authorized attackers. 3) Implement strict network segmentation and egress filtering within Azure environments to limit the ability of compromised components to reach sensitive internal endpoints or external malicious destinations. 4) Enable and monitor Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel for unusual request patterns or anomalous network activity indicative of SSRF exploitation attempts. 5) Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on SSRF and related cloud vulnerabilities to identify and remediate weaknesses proactively. 6) Educate cloud administrators and developers about SSRF risks and secure coding practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities in custom Azure integrations. 7) Employ multi-factor authentication and strong identity management controls to reduce the risk of account compromise that could lead to exploitation of this vulnerability.