CVE-2025-49918 is a vulnerability identified in the VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS, specifically affecting versions up to and including 1.8.2. The flaw involves the insertion of sensitive information into data sent by the application, which can be retrieved by an attacker. This means that sensitive data embedded within communications—potentially including personal customer details, booking information, or payment-related data—can be exposed to unauthorized parties. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network (AV:N), but requires a high level of attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges (PR:N), and user interaction (UI:R). The scope remains unchanged (S:U), indicating the vulnerability affects only the vulnerable component without impacting other system components. The confidentiality impact is high (C:H), meaning sensitive data confidentiality is severely compromised, while integrity impact is low (I:L), and availability is unaffected (A:N). No known exploits are currently in the wild, and no official patches have been linked, suggesting the vulnerability is newly disclosed or not yet actively exploited. The vulnerability was reserved in June 2025 and published in December 2025, indicating recent discovery. The lack of CWE classification and patch links suggests limited public technical details and remediation guidance at this time. The vulnerability primarily threatens the confidentiality of sensitive customer and operational data processed by the VikBooking system, which is critical for hotel and property management operations.

For European organizations, particularly those in the hospitality and tourism sectors using VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of customer data, including personally identifiable information and potentially payment details. Data leakage could lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR, resulting in legal penalties and reputational damage. The integrity of booking data is only minimally affected, and system availability remains intact, so operational disruption is unlikely. However, the exposure of sensitive information could facilitate further attacks such as identity theft, fraud, or targeted phishing campaigns. Given the importance of tourism in countries like Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, organizations in these regions are at higher risk. The requirement for user interaction and high attack complexity somewhat limits exploitation likelihood but does not eliminate the threat, especially in environments with less stringent network controls or where social engineering is feasible. The absence of known exploits suggests a window of opportunity for defenders to implement mitigations before active exploitation occurs.

1. Monitor and analyze network traffic to and from the VikBooking system for unusual data transmissions that may indicate sensitive data leakage. 2. Restrict network access to the VikBooking application using firewall rules and network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted users and systems only. 3. Implement strict user interaction policies and educate staff to recognize and avoid social engineering attempts that could trigger exploitation. 4. Regularly review and audit application logs for suspicious activity related to data access or transmission. 5. Engage with the vendor or community to obtain patches or updates as soon as they become available and apply them promptly. 6. Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. 7. Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit within the booking engine to reduce the impact of any data exposure. 8. Conduct penetration testing focused on data leakage scenarios to identify and remediate any additional weaknesses. 9. Maintain an incident response plan tailored to data breach scenarios involving hospitality management systems. 10. Evaluate alternative booking engine solutions if patching or mitigation is not feasible in the short term.