CVE-2025-61873VulnerabilityPublished 16 Jan 2026

CVE-2025-61873: bestpractical Request Tracker · CSV Injection

Affects bestpractical Request TrackerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 2.6 Low · fixed in 6.0.2 : update bestpractical Request Tracker when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 08:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

2.6Low

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 12% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 6.0.2, 5.0.9, 4.4.9

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on 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 16 Jan 2026
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 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 bestpractical Request Tracker to 6.0.2, 5.0.9 or 4.4.9.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
bestpracticalRequest Tracker	Affected <4.4.9 >=5.0 <5.0.9 >=6.0 <6.0.2	Fixed in 6.0.2 5.0.9 4.4.9

AI-suggested

1. Upgrade RT installations to versions 4.4.9, 5.0.9, or 6.0.2 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. 2. Implement input validation and sanitization on ticket fields to neutralize characters that can trigger formula execution in spreadsheet applications (e.g., prefixing cells with a single quote or removing leading '=', '+', '-', '@'). 3. Educate users to be cautious when opening exported TSV or CSV files from untrusted or internal sources, especially those containing ticket data. 4. Restrict access to the TSV export functionality to authorized users only, minimizing exposure to untrusted inputs. 5. Consider disabling TSV export if not required or replacing it with safer export formats that do not interpret formulas. 6. Monitor logs and ticket content for suspicious entries that may indicate attempts to inject malicious payloads. 7. Use endpoint protection solutions that can detect and block malicious macro or formula execution in spreadsheet applications. 8. Establish policies for secure handling and scanning of exported files before opening.

Description

Best Practical Request Tracker (RT) before 4.4.9, 5.0.9, and 6.0.2 allows CSV Injection via ticket values when TSV export is used.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-61873 can be significant in environments where RT is used extensively for IT service management, customer support, or internal issue tracking. Successful exploitation could lead to execution of arbitrary commands on the client side when exported TSV files are opened, potentially compromising user machines or leaking sensitive data. This could undermine the confidentiality and integrity of organizational data and disrupt operations if malicious payloads execute destructive commands. The vulnerability also increases the risk of social engineering attacks, as attackers might trick users into opening malicious exports. While the vulnerability does not directly affect server availability, the downstream impact on client systems and data integrity can be severe. European organizations handling sensitive or regulated data (e.g., GDPR-regulated personal data) face compliance risks if such an attack leads to data breaches. The absence of known exploits provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the widespread use of RT in Europe means many organizations could be exposed if patches are not applied promptly.

CWE-1236Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product saves user-provided information into a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as a command when the file is opened by a spreadsheet product.
Implementation
When generating CSV output, ensure that formula-sensitive metacharacters are effectively escaped or removed from all data before storage in the resultant CSV. Risky characters include '=' (equal), '+' (plus), '-' (minus), and '@' (at).
Implementation
If a field starts with a formula character, prepend it with a ' (single apostrophe), which prevents Excel from executing the formula.
Architecture and Design
Certain implementations of spreadsheet software might disallow formulas from executing if the file is untrusted, or if the file is not authored by the current user.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

docs.bestpractical.com/release-notes/rt/index.html (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 16 Jan 2026, 18:36 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-1236

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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