CVE-2025-42961VulnerabilityPublished 8 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-42961: SAP NetWeaver Application Server for ABAP · Missing Authorization

Affects SAP NetWeaver Application Server for ABAPSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.9 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 08:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.9Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 28% 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:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
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: 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: 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 8 Jul 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 26 Oct 2026.

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

To mitigate this vulnerability effectively, European organizations should: 1) Conduct a thorough review of user roles and authorizations within SAP NetWeaver to ensure the principle of least privilege is strictly enforced, minimizing the number of users with high-level access. 2) Implement robust privileged access management (PAM) solutions to monitor and control the use of privileged accounts, including session recording and anomaly detection. 3) Apply SAP security notes and patches as soon as they become available from SAP, and subscribe to SAP security advisories for timely updates. 4) Perform regular audits of access logs and database queries to detect unauthorized access attempts to sensitive tables. 5) Employ network segmentation and restrict access to SAP servers to trusted networks and users only. 6) Enhance monitoring with SIEM tools to correlate SAP access events with other security alerts. 7) Train SAP administrators and users on security best practices and the risks associated with excessive privileges. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control hardening, proactive monitoring, and rapid patch management tailored to SAP environments.

Description

Due to a missing authorization check in SAP NetWeaver Application server for ABAP, an authenticated user with high privileges could exploit the insufficient validation of user permissions to access sensitive database tables. By leveraging overly permissive access configurations, unauthorized reading of critical data is possible, resulting in a significant impact on the confidentiality of the information stored. However, the integrity and availability of the system remain unaffected.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-42961 is primarily on the confidentiality of sensitive corporate data managed within SAP systems. Many large enterprises and public sector organizations across Europe rely heavily on SAP NetWeaver for critical business processes, including finance, supply chain, and human resources. Unauthorized access to sensitive tables could lead to data breaches involving personal data protected under GDPR, trade secrets, or financial information. Although the vulnerability does not affect system availability or integrity, the exposure of confidential data can result in regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and loss of competitive advantage. The requirement for high-privilege authentication reduces the risk from external attackers but elevates the threat from insider misuse or compromised privileged accounts. European organizations with complex SAP landscapes and insufficient segregation of duties or weak privileged access management controls are particularly at risk.

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 8 Jul 2025, 00:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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