CVE-2025-48070 is a vulnerability identified in the open-source project management software 'plane' developed by makeplane. The flaw exists in versions prior to 0.23 within the UserSerializer component, where incorrect default permissions allow users to modify fields that should be read-only, such as the email address. This misconfiguration violates the principle of least privilege and is classified under CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions). While the vulnerability alone does not directly lead to account takeover, it can be exploited in combination with other vulnerabilities, notably cross-site scripting (XSS), to escalate privileges and hijack user accounts. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 3.5, indicating low severity, with an attack vector of network, low attack complexity, requiring privileges and user interaction, and impacting integrity but not confidentiality or availability. The issue was addressed and fixed in version 0.23 of the software. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. This vulnerability highlights the risk of improper permission settings in serialization logic, which can undermine security controls and enable unauthorized data modification when chained with other attack vectors.

For European organizations using plane versions prior to 0.23, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the integrity of user account data. Attackers with some level of access and the ability to trick users into interacting with malicious content (e.g., via XSS) could change critical user attributes like email addresses, potentially leading to account takeover scenarios. This could result in unauthorized access to project management data, disruption of workflows, and exposure of sensitive project information. While the direct impact is limited due to the low CVSS score and the need for chaining with other vulnerabilities, organizations relying on plane for collaboration and project tracking could face operational risks and reputational damage if exploited. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in environments where plane is integrated with other systems or where user identity integrity is critical. Given the open-source nature of plane, European entities using customized or outdated versions may be more vulnerable if patches are not applied promptly.

1. Upgrade to plane version 0.23 or later immediately to ensure the fix for this vulnerability is applied. 2. Conduct a thorough audit of user permissions and serialization logic in any customized versions or forks of plane to verify that read-only fields are properly protected. 3. Implement robust input validation and output encoding to mitigate the risk of XSS vulnerabilities that could be chained with this issue. 4. Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) on user accounts to reduce the risk of account takeover even if email or other fields are manipulated. 5. Monitor user account changes and anomalous activities related to user profile modifications to detect potential exploitation attempts. 6. Educate users about phishing and social engineering risks that could facilitate exploitation of chained vulnerabilities. 7. Review integration points with plane to ensure that downstream systems are not vulnerable to compromised user data integrity.