CVE-2025-42982 is a high-severity vulnerability identified in the SAP Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Access Control (AC) Plugin, specifically affecting versions GRCPINW V1100_700 and V1100_731. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-862, which denotes a Missing Authorization issue. This flaw allows a non-administrative user to access and initiate transactions that should normally require elevated privileges. By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can potentially modify or control the system credentials transmitted within the SAP GRC environment. This unauthorized access to sensitive credentials can lead to a compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the SAP GRC application and potentially the broader SAP ecosystem it manages. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8, indicating a high level of severity, with an attack vector that is network-based (AV:N), requiring low attack complexity (AC:L), and only low privileges (PR:L) without user interaction (UI:N). The scope is unchanged (S:U), but the impact on confidentiality (C:H), integrity (I:H), and availability (A:H) is high. Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the nature of the vulnerability suggests that exploitation could allow attackers to escalate privileges and manipulate critical access controls within SAP GRC, potentially leading to widespread unauthorized access and control over enterprise resources managed through SAP. The absence of patches at the time of publication emphasizes the need for immediate attention and mitigation by affected organizations.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-42982 is significant given the widespread use of SAP GRC in managing compliance, risk, and access controls across various industries including finance, manufacturing, energy, and public sector. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized modification of system credentials, enabling attackers to gain elevated access or persist within critical SAP environments. This could result in data breaches involving sensitive corporate and personal data, disruption of business processes, and potential regulatory non-compliance with GDPR and other data protection laws. The compromise of SAP GRC could also undermine trust in governance and risk management frameworks, leading to financial losses and reputational damage. The high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability means that attackers could exfiltrate sensitive information, alter critical configurations, or cause denial of service conditions, severely affecting operational continuity and security posture.

Given the absence of official patches at the time of disclosure, European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Restrict access to SAP GRC AC Plugin transactions strictly to authorized administrative users by reviewing and tightening role-based access controls (RBAC) and ensuring the principle of least privilege is enforced. 2) Implement enhanced monitoring and logging of SAP GRC transaction initiations, especially those related to credential management, to detect anomalous or unauthorized activities promptly. 3) Employ network segmentation and firewall rules to limit exposure of SAP GRC components to only trusted internal networks and users. 4) Conduct thorough audits of user permissions and remove any unnecessary privileges from non-administrative accounts. 5) Prepare for rapid deployment of official patches by establishing a vulnerability management process that includes testing and validation of SAP updates. 6) Consider deploying compensating controls such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) for SAP GRC access and integrating SAP security with centralized identity and access management solutions to enhance oversight. 7) Engage with SAP support and security advisories to receive updates on patch availability and exploit developments.