CVE-2025-42902 is a memory corruption vulnerability categorized as CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) affecting SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP and ABAP Platform. The flaw arises when an unauthenticated attacker sends a corrupted SAP Logon Ticket or SAP Assertion Ticket to the SAP application server. This malformed input causes the server to dereference a NULL pointer, leading to a crash of the work process handling the request. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of SAP NetWeaver and ABAP Platform, including kernel versions 7.22, 7.53, 7.54, 7.77, 7.89, 7.93, and ABAP Platform versions 9.14 through 9.16. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3, reflecting medium severity, with attack vector as network (AV:N), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), and impact limited to availability (A:L), with no confidentiality or integrity impact. Exploitation can be performed remotely without authentication, making it a potential vector for denial of service attacks against SAP systems. Although no known exploits have been reported in the wild, the vulnerability poses a risk to the availability of SAP services, which are critical for enterprise operations. The lack of patches at the time of publication necessitates immediate attention to access controls and monitoring. SAP environments are often integral to business-critical functions, so even a low-impact availability disruption can have significant operational consequences.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-42902 is a potential denial of service (DoS) condition on SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP and ABAP Platform servers. This can disrupt business-critical applications such as ERP, supply chain management, and financial systems that rely on SAP infrastructure. Although the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, availability interruptions can lead to operational downtime, financial losses, and reputational damage. Industries with high SAP dependency, including manufacturing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, and financial services, are particularly vulnerable. Given the unauthenticated remote exploitability, attackers could target exposed SAP servers to cause service outages. This risk is heightened in environments with insufficient network segmentation or weak access controls. The impact is compounded in organizations with limited incident response capabilities or delayed patch management processes. Additionally, regulatory compliance frameworks in Europe, such as GDPR, emphasize service availability and operational resilience, making mitigation of such vulnerabilities critical.

1. Apply SAP vendor patches immediately once they become available for the affected versions to remediate the NULL pointer dereference vulnerability. 2. Restrict network access to SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP and ABAP Platform servers by implementing strict firewall rules and network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted networks. 3. Employ SAP Security Notes and regularly monitor SAP Support Portal for updates and advisories related to this vulnerability. 4. Enable and review SAP system logs and audit trails to detect anomalous or malformed SAP Logon or Assertion Ticket submissions indicative of exploitation attempts. 5. Implement intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures or heuristics targeting malformed SAP tickets or abnormal SAP protocol traffic. 6. Harden SAP application server configurations by disabling unnecessary services and enforcing strong authentication mechanisms for administrative access. 7. Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing focused on SAP environments to identify and remediate exposure. 8. Develop and test incident response plans specifically addressing SAP system availability disruptions to minimize operational impact. 9. Educate SAP system administrators and security teams about this vulnerability and recommended defensive measures. 10. Consider deploying SAP Enterprise Threat Detection tools to enhance real-time monitoring and threat hunting capabilities within SAP landscapes.