VulnerabilityPublished 4 Jul 2025Updated 8 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-48952: jokob-sk NetAlertX · Incorrect Comparison

Affects jokob-sk NetAlertXSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.4 Critical : upgrade to 25.6.7 as a priority.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

9.4Critical

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 48% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 25.6.7

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

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: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

Upgrade jokob-sk/NetAlertX to 25.6.7.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubjokob-sk/NetAlertX`pkg:github/jokob-sk/NetAlertX`Other threats	Affected <25.6.7	Fixed in 25.6.7

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately upgrade NetAlertX to version 25.6.7 or later to remediate the vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, organizations should implement compensating controls such as restricting access to the NetAlertX interface via network segmentation and firewall rules to trusted IP addresses only. Enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible can add an additional layer of protection against unauthorized access. Organizations should audit existing user accounts for weak or "weird" passwords that could produce magic hashes and enforce strong password policies to reduce risk. Monitoring authentication logs for unusual login patterns or repeated failed attempts can help detect exploitation attempts. Additionally, conducting internal penetration testing focused on authentication mechanisms can verify the effectiveness of mitigations. Finally, organizations should maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to quickly recover from potential compromises.

Description

NetAlertX is a network, presence scanner, and alert framework. Prior to version 25.6.7, a vulnerability in the authentication logic allows users to bypass password verification using SHA-256 magic hashes, due to loose comparison in PHP. In vulnerable versions of the application, a password comparison is performed using the `==` operator at line 40 in front/index.php. This introduces a security issue where specially crafted "magic hash" values that evaluate to true in a loose comparison can bypass authentication. Because of the use of `==` instead of the strict `===`, different strings that begin with 0e and are followed by only digits can be interpreted as scientific notation (i.e., zero) and treated as equal. This issue falls under the Login Bypass vulnerability class. Users with certain "weird" passwords that produce magic hashes are particularly affected. Services relying on this logic are at risk of unauthorized access. Version 25.6.7 fixes the vulnerability.

Impact

For European organizations using NetAlertX versions prior to 25.6.7, this vulnerability poses a significant risk. Unauthorized access due to authentication bypass can lead to compromise of network monitoring infrastructure, allowing attackers to manipulate or disable alerts, gain insight into network topology, or pivot to other internal systems. This undermines the confidentiality and integrity of network monitoring data and can disrupt availability indirectly by delaying detection of network incidents. Organizations relying on NetAlertX for critical infrastructure monitoring, especially in sectors such as finance, energy, healthcare, and government, face heightened risks of espionage, data breaches, or sabotage. The vulnerability’s network-level exploitability without authentication or user interaction increases the likelihood of automated or targeted attacks. Given the criticality of network monitoring in maintaining operational security and compliance with European data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR), exploitation could result in regulatory penalties and reputational damage. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive patching and mitigation before widespread attacks emerge.

CWE-697Incorrect Comparison (opens in a new tab)
Pillar weakness
The product compares two entities in a security-relevant context, but the comparison is incorrect.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Attack patterns
Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables (opens in a new tab)
Double Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Command Delimiters (opens in a new tab)
Flash Injection (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

github.com/jokob-sk/NetAlertX/security/advisories/GHSA-4p4p-vq2v-9489 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 14 Jul 2025, 21:36 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-697

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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