CVE-2025-42891VulnerabilityPublished 9 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-42891: SAP Enterprise Search for ABAP · Missing Authorization

Affects SAP Enterprise Search for ABAPSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 23% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: Low
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: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
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: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on 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 9 Dec 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

AI-suggested

1. Monitor and restrict SAP user privileges rigorously, ensuring that only trusted administrators have high-level access to SAP_BASIS components and Enterprise Search functionalities. 2. Implement strict segregation of duties to minimize the risk of privilege abuse. 3. Audit ABAP report generation logs regularly to detect unusual or unauthorized data export activities. 4. Apply SAP security notes and patches promptly once released for the affected SAP_BASIS versions. 5. Employ SAP’s standard authorization concepts to enforce granular access controls on Enterprise Search and database tables. 6. Use SAP’s Security Audit Log and System Change Logging to track changes and access attempts related to Enterprise Search. 7. Consider deploying additional data loss prevention (DLP) solutions integrated with SAP to detect and block unauthorized data exports. 8. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on SAP authorization configurations. 9. Educate SAP administrators and users about the risks of privilege misuse and the importance of secure configuration. 10. If patching is delayed, consider temporary disabling or restricting Enterprise Search features that allow report exports until a fix is applied.

Description

Due to a missing authorization check in SAP Enterprise Search for ABAP, an attacker with high privileges may read and export the contents of database tables into an ABAP report. This could lead to a high impact on data confidentiality and a low impact on data integrity. There is no impact on application's availability.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-42891 is significant due to the widespread use of SAP ERP systems across industries such as manufacturing, finance, utilities, and public sector. The ability for an attacker with high privileges to export sensitive database contents threatens confidentiality of critical business data, intellectual property, and personal data protected under GDPR. This could lead to regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and financial losses. Although integrity impact is low, unauthorized data exports can facilitate further attacks or insider threats. Availability is unaffected, so operational disruption is unlikely. However, the breach of confidentiality alone can have severe consequences, especially for organizations handling sensitive customer or strategic data. The requirement for high privileges limits exploitation to insiders or compromised accounts, but this does not eliminate risk given the complexity of SAP environments and potential privilege escalations. Organizations in sectors with strict data protection requirements or those targeted by advanced persistent threats (APTs) must prioritize addressing this vulnerability.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (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

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 16 Dec 2025, 05:04 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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