CVE-2025-54471VulnerabilityPublished 30 Oct 2025

CVE-2025-54471: SUSE neuvector · Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key

Affects SUSE neuvectorSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 18% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 30 Oct 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 2026-10-25.

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 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubneuvector/neuvector`pkg:github/neuvector/neuvector`Other threats	Affected =5.3.0	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

1. Immediately audit and identify all deployments running affected NeuVector versions (5.3.0 and 0.0.0-20230727023453-1c4957d53911). 2. Replace hard-coded cryptographic keys with dynamically generated keys stored securely using dedicated secrets management solutions such as HashiCorp Vault, AWS KMS, or hardware security modules (HSMs). 3. Implement environment variable or configuration-based key injection at runtime rather than compile time to avoid embedding keys in binaries. 4. Restrict network and user access to NeuVector management interfaces to trusted administrators only, minimizing exposure. 5. Monitor logs and network traffic for unusual access patterns that could indicate attempts to extract or misuse configuration data. 6. Engage with SUSE for official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability and apply them as soon as available. 7. Conduct regular security reviews of cryptographic implementations in container security tools to prevent similar issues. 8. Educate development and DevOps teams on secure key management best practices to avoid hard-coded secrets in future releases.

Description

NeuVector used a hard-coded cryptographic key embedded in the source code. At compilation time, the key value was replaced with the secret key value and used to encrypt sensitive configurations when NeuVector stores the data.

Impact

For European organizations, the exposure of sensitive configuration data in NeuVector could lead to unauthorized disclosure of secrets, credentials, or security policies, undermining container security posture. This could facilitate lateral movement, privilege escalation, or data breaches within containerized environments. Organizations relying on NeuVector for Kubernetes or container security may find their defenses weakened if attackers decrypt configuration data. The impact is particularly significant for sectors with stringent data protection requirements such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. Confidentiality breaches could also lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR if personal data or security controls are compromised. Although integrity and availability are not directly affected, the confidentiality loss can indirectly enable further attacks. The absence of known exploits provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the medium severity score indicates a non-trivial risk that should be addressed promptly.

CWE-321Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A04:2025: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product uses a hard-coded, unchangeable cryptographic key.
Architecture and Design
Prevention schemes mirror that of hard-coded password storage.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
User Privacy Protection (opens in a new tab)
Password Storage (opens in a new tab)
Cryptographic Storage (opens in a new tab)
HSTS (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V2.6.2 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 6 Nov 2025, 11:19 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-321

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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