CVE-2025-41253VulnerabilityPublished 16 Oct 2025

CVE-2025-41253: VMware Spring Cloud Gateway Server Webflux · Expression Language Injection

Affects VMware Spring Cloud Gateway Server WebfluxSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High · fixed in 4.4.0 : patch VMware Spring Cloud Gateway Server Webflux soon.

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: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 40% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.4.0, 4.3.0, 4.2.0 +2

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within 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 16 Oct 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

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mavenorg.springframework.cloud/spring-cloud-gateway-server-webflux`pkg:maven/org.springframework.cloud/spring-cloud-gateway-server-webflux`Other threats	Affected >=3.1.0 <3.2.0 >=4.0.0 <4.1.0 >=4.1.0 <4.2.0 >=4.2.0 <4.3.0 >=4.3.0 <4.4.0	Fixed in 3.2.0 4.1.0 4.2.0 4.3.0 4.4.0

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

AI-suggested

1. Immediately review and restrict access to Spring Cloud Gateway actuator endpoints. Disable the gateway actuator endpoint if not required by setting management.endpoint.gateway.enabled=false or removing 'gateway' from management.endpoints.web.exposure.include. 2. If actuator endpoints must be enabled, enforce strict authentication and authorization controls to prevent untrusted third parties from accessing or modifying routes. 3. Limit the ability to create or modify routes to trusted administrators only, preventing untrusted users from injecting malicious SpEL expressions. 4. Monitor logs and network traffic for unusual requests targeting actuator endpoints or route creation APIs. 5. 6. Conduct a thorough audit of environment variables and system properties to identify and minimize sensitive information exposure. 7. Employ network segmentation and firewall rules to restrict access to management endpoints from untrusted networks. 8. Educate development and operations teams about the risks of enabling actuator endpoints without proper security controls. 9. Consider implementing runtime application self-protection (RASP) or Web Application Firewalls (WAF) with rules to detect and block suspicious SpEL injection attempts. 10. Regularly review and update security configurations in line with best practices for Spring Cloud Gateway deployments.

Description

The following versions of Spring Cloud Gateway Server Webflux may be vulnerable to the ability to expose environment variables and system properties to attackers. An application should be considered vulnerable when all the following are true: * The application is using Spring Cloud Gateway Server Webflux (Spring Cloud Gateway Server WebMVC is not vulnerable). * An admin or untrusted third party using Spring Expression Language (SpEL) to access environment variables or system properties via routes. * An untrusted third party could create a route that uses SpEL to access environment variables or system properties if: * The Spring Cloud Gateway Server Webflux actuator web endpoint is enabled via management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=gateway and management.endpoint.gateway.enabled=trueor management.endpoint.gateway.access=unrestricte. * The actuator endpoints are available to attackers. * The actuator endpoints are unsecured.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to confidentiality, as attackers can remotely extract sensitive environment variables and system properties without authentication or user interaction. Organizations relying on Spring Cloud Gateway Server Webflux in critical applications, especially those exposing actuator endpoints for monitoring or management, may inadvertently expose secrets such as database credentials, API keys, or internal configuration details. This can lead to further compromise, including lateral movement or data breaches. The impact is particularly severe for sectors with stringent data protection requirements such as finance, healthcare, and government. Additionally, organizations using cloud-native or microservices architectures that leverage Spring Cloud Gateway for API routing and management are at heightened risk. The vulnerability does not directly affect system integrity or availability, but the confidentiality breach can have cascading effects on overall security posture and compliance with regulations like GDPR. The absence of known exploits in the wild provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the ease of exploitation and high impact necessitate urgent attention.

CWE-917Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an Expression Language Statement ('Expression Language Injection') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product constructs all or part of an expression language (EL) statement in a framework such as a Java Server Page (JSP) using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended EL statement before it is executed.
Architecture and Design
Avoid adding user-controlled data into an expression interpreter when possible.
Implementation
If user-controlled data must be added to an expression interpreter, one or more of the following should be performed: Validate that the user input will not evaluate as an expression; Encode the user input in a way that ensures it is not evaluated as an expression
System Configuration · Operation
The framework or tooling might allow the developer to disable or deactivate the processing of EL expressions, such as setting the isELIgnored attribute for a JSP page to "true".
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
SQL Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention in Java (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 16 Oct 2025, 14:59 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-917

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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