CVE-2025-59154: igniterealtime Openfire · Authentication Bypass by Spoofing
Affects igniterealtime OpenfireSource CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium : upgrade to 5.0.2 when convenient.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 14% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 5.0.2
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 15 Sep 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.
What to do
Upgrade igniterealtime Openfire to 5.0.2.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| igniterealtime Openfire | Affected
| Fixed in
|
AI-suggested
European organizations should immediately upgrade Openfire servers to version 5.0.2 or later to apply the official fix. In addition, organizations should audit their SASL EXTERNAL authentication configurations to verify whether CN-to-user mapping is enabled and assess the necessity of this mapping. Where possible, disable SASL EXTERNAL or restrict its use to trusted clients only. Implement strict certificate issuance policies and validation procedures to prevent acceptance of maliciously crafted certificates. Employ certificate pinning or certificate revocation checks to detect and block unauthorized certificates. Monitor authentication logs for unusual certificate usage or unexpected user impersonation attempts. Consider deploying additional multi-factor authentication mechanisms to complement certificate-based authentication. Network segmentation and strict access controls around Openfire servers can limit the impact of potential compromises. Finally, conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on authentication mechanisms to detect similar weaknesses.
Description
Openfire is an XMPP server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. Openfire’s SASL EXTERNAL mechanism for client TLS authentication contains a vulnerability in how it extracts user identities from X.509 certificates. Instead of parsing the structured ASN.1 data, the code calls X509Certificate.getSubjectDN().getName() and applies a regex to look for CN=. This method produces a provider-dependent string that does not escape special characters. In SunJSSE (sun.security.x509.X500Name), for example, commas and equals signs inside attribute values are not escaped. As a result, a malicious certificate can embed CN= inside another attribute value (e.g. OU="CN=admin,"). The regex will incorrectly interpret this as a legitimate Common Name and extract admin. If SASL EXTERNAL is enabled and configured to map CNs to user accounts, this allows the attacker to impersonate another user. The fix is included in Openfire 5.0.2 and 5.1.0.
References
- github.com/igniterealtime/Openfire/security/advisories/GHSA-w252-645g-87mp (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/igniterealtime/Openfire/blob/8d073dda36905da0fdee7cb623c025a01a5cbf6b/xmppserver/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/util/cert/CNCertificateIdentityMapping.java (opens in a new tab)
- igniterealtime.atlassian.net/browse/OF-3122 (opens in a new tab)
- igniterealtime.atlassian.net/browse/OF-3123 (opens in a new tab)
- igniterealtime.atlassian.net/browse/OF-3124 (opens in a new tab)