CVE-2025-48740 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability identified in StrangeBee's TheHive product, specifically affecting versions 5.2.0 before 5.2.16, 5.3.0 before 5.3.11, 5.4.0 before 5.4.10, and 5.5.0 before 5.5.1. TheHive is an open-source security incident response platform widely used by security teams to manage and investigate cybersecurity incidents. The vulnerability arises because the application does not adequately verify that requests made to it originate from legitimate, authenticated users, allowing an attacker to trick a privileged user into executing unwanted actions. This attack vector requires the victim to be authenticated using basic authentication and to be lured into interacting with a malicious web page or link controlled by the attacker. Once triggered, the attacker can perform actions on behalf of the victim, potentially manipulating incident data, altering configurations, or disrupting response workflows. The CVSS 4.0 base score of 5.9 (medium severity) reflects that the attack can be launched remotely without prior authentication but requires user interaction and targets high-impact integrity violations. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time, and no official patch links were provided in the source, indicating that affected organizations should verify their version and apply any available updates promptly. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-352, which is a common web application security weakness related to CSRF attacks.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be significant, especially for entities relying on TheHive for incident response and security operations. Successful exploitation could allow attackers to manipulate incident data, potentially causing misdirection in investigations, loss of critical forensic information, or unauthorized changes to security configurations. This undermines the integrity of the incident response process and could delay or derail mitigation efforts during active cyberattacks. Given that TheHive is used by various sectors including government agencies, critical infrastructure operators, and large enterprises across Europe, the risk extends to national security and essential services. Furthermore, the requirement for basic authentication means that organizations using this authentication method without additional protections (like multi-factor authentication) are more vulnerable. The need for user interaction limits the attack surface somewhat but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments where users may be targeted with sophisticated social engineering campaigns. The absence of known exploits suggests a window of opportunity for defenders to remediate before widespread exploitation occurs.

Organizations should immediately assess their deployment of TheHive and identify if they are running affected versions (5.2.0 before 5.2.16, 5.3.0 before 5.3.11, 5.4.0 before 5.4.10, or 5.5.0 before 5.5.1). They should prioritize upgrading to the latest patched versions as soon as they become available from StrangeBee. In the interim, implementing additional CSRF protections such as enforcing anti-CSRF tokens on all state-changing requests can reduce risk. Transitioning away from basic authentication to more secure methods like OAuth or integrating multi-factor authentication will also mitigate the risk of unauthorized actions. Security teams should educate privileged users about the dangers of interacting with unsolicited links or web pages while authenticated to TheHive. Network-level controls such as web application firewalls (WAFs) can be configured to detect and block suspicious CSRF attempts. Regular auditing of TheHive logs for unusual activity and implementing strict session management policies will help detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts. Finally, organizations should monitor StrangeBee’s advisories for official patches and apply them promptly.