CVE-2025-46547 identifies a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Sherpa Orchestrator version 141851. Sherpa Orchestrator is a web-based application used for orchestration tasks, likely involving automation and management of IT workflows. The vulnerability arises because the application lacks adequate CSRF protections, which are mechanisms designed to prevent unauthorized commands being transmitted from a user that the web application trusts. Exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can trick an authenticated user into submitting malicious requests without their consent. The consequences of this vulnerability are severe because it enables an attacker to perform multiple critical actions: conducting Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks, adding new users or roles to the system, and exploiting an existing SQL injection vulnerability. The chaining of CSRF with XSS and SQL injection significantly amplifies the attack surface and potential damage. Notably, the vulnerability requires the victim to be authenticated to the Sherpa Orchestrator application, as CSRF attacks rely on the victim’s active session. There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no patches have been released yet. The vulnerability was publicly disclosed on April 25, 2025, and is classified under CWE-352, which covers CSRF issues. The lack of CSRF tokens or similar anti-CSRF mechanisms in the affected version permits attackers to bypass normal user interaction safeguards, leading to unauthorized state-changing requests on behalf of legitimate users.

For European organizations using Sherpa Orchestrator 141851, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their orchestration environments. By exploiting CSRF, attackers can escalate privileges by adding unauthorized users or roles, potentially gaining administrative access. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive orchestration workflows and data. The ability to conduct XSS attacks through this vulnerability can facilitate session hijacking, credential theft, or further malware injection, compromising user accounts and system integrity. Additionally, the exploitation of a SQL injection vulnerability via CSRF can result in data leakage, unauthorized data modification, or complete database compromise. Given that orchestration platforms often integrate with critical infrastructure and automation pipelines, successful exploitation could disrupt business operations, cause data breaches, or enable lateral movement within networks. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for mitigation, but the potential impact remains high if attackers develop exploit techniques. European organizations in sectors such as finance, manufacturing, telecommunications, and government, which rely on orchestration tools for automation and operational efficiency, are particularly at risk. The vulnerability could also undermine compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR if it leads to unauthorized data access or breaches.

Immediate mitigation steps should include implementing robust CSRF protections in Sherpa Orchestrator, such as synchronizer tokens (CSRF tokens) embedded in forms and verified on the server side. Until an official patch is released, organizations should restrict access to the orchestration interface to trusted networks and enforce strict authentication and session management policies, including short session timeouts and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of session hijacking. Network-level controls such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) can be configured to detect and block suspicious requests that may indicate CSRF attempts. Administrators should audit user roles and permissions to ensure least privilege principles are enforced, limiting the impact if unauthorized users are added. Monitoring and logging should be enhanced to detect unusual activities, such as unexpected user additions or role changes. Organizations should also educate users about the risks of CSRF and encourage cautious behavior when interacting with links or emails that could trigger malicious requests. Finally, organizations should maintain close communication with Sherpa for updates and patches and plan for rapid deployment once available.