CVE-2025-61524 is a vulnerability identified in Casdoor, an open-source identity and access management platform, affecting versions up to v2.26.0. The issue stems from a flaw in the permission verification module and the organization/application editing interface, where remote authenticated administrators can bypass the system's permission checks by directly concatenating URLs after login. This bypass allows these administrators to perform unauthorized actions beyond their intended scope, effectively escalating privileges or accessing restricted organizational data. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-285, indicating improper authorization. The attack vector is network-based (AV:N), with low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring high privileges (PR:H) but no user interaction (UI:N). The scope remains unchanged (S:U), but the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high (C:H/I:H/A:H). Although exploitation requires authenticated administrator access, the flaw enables these users to circumvent intended permission boundaries, potentially compromising multiple organizations within the system. The vulnerability was publicly disclosed on October 8, 2025, and fixed in Casdoor version 2.63.0. No known exploits have been reported in the wild, but the risk remains significant due to the nature of the flaw and the privileged access required for exploitation.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk, especially for those deploying Casdoor for identity and access management. Unauthorized privilege escalation by authenticated administrators can lead to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion, impacting confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical systems. This can result in data breaches, disruption of services, and loss of trust. Organizations with multi-tenant or multi-organization deployments are particularly vulnerable, as a compromised administrator in one organization could potentially affect others. The impact extends to compliance risks under GDPR and other data protection regulations, potentially leading to legal and financial penalties. The absence of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk, but the ease of exploitation by insiders or compromised administrators necessitates urgent remediation. The vulnerability also increases the attack surface for insider threats and lateral movement within networks.

European organizations should immediately upgrade Casdoor to version 2.63.0 or later to apply the official patch addressing this vulnerability. Until patching is possible, implement strict access controls and monitoring on administrator accounts, including multi-factor authentication and least privilege principles to limit the number of users with high-level administrative rights. Conduct thorough audits of administrator activities and review URL access patterns for anomalies indicative of permission bypass attempts. Employ network segmentation to isolate critical identity management systems and restrict access to trusted personnel only. Additionally, consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious URL concatenation patterns. Regularly update and test incident response plans to quickly address potential exploitation. Finally, educate administrators on the risks of URL manipulation and enforce secure session management practices.