VulnerabilityPublished 24 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-65998: Apache Syncope · Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key

Affects Apache SyncopeSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High · fixed in 3.0.15 : patch Apache Syncope soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 44% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 3.0.15

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
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: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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 24 Nov 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.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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
Mavenorg.apache.syncope/syncope-core`pkg:maven/org.apache.syncope/syncope-core`Other threats	Affected =2.1 =3.0 =4.0	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

Immediately upgrade Apache Syncope to version 3.0.15 or 4.0.3, where the hard-coded key vulnerability is fixed.
Audit current deployments to identify if AES encryption for password storage is enabled and verify if affected versions are in use.
Restrict and monitor access to the internal database to prevent unauthorized access, employing network segmentation and strong access controls.
Implement secure cryptographic key management practices, ensuring keys are generated dynamically, stored securely, and rotated regularly rather than hard-coded.
Conduct a credential audit and enforce password resets for all users whose passwords may have been exposed.
Enhance logging and alerting on database access to detect suspicious activities promptly.
Review and strengthen overall identity and access management policies to limit the impact of credential exposure.
Consider additional encryption layers or tokenization for sensitive attributes beyond default Syncope configurations.
Educate administrators and developers about secure cryptographic practices to prevent similar issues in custom configurations or extensions.

Description

Apache Syncope can be configured to store the user password values in the internal database with AES encryption, though this is not the default option. When AES is configured, the default key value, hard-coded in the source code, is always used. This allows a malicious attacker, once obtained access to the internal database content, to reconstruct the original cleartext password values. This is not affecting encrypted plain attributes, whose values are also stored using AES encryption. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.0.15 / 4.0.3, which fix this issue.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-65998 is the compromise of user password confidentiality within Apache Syncope deployments that have AES encryption enabled for password storage. Attackers who gain access to the internal database can decrypt passwords easily due to the hard-coded key, leading to potential unauthorized access to user accounts and downstream systems relying on these credentials. This can facilitate lateral movement, privilege escalation, and identity theft within affected organizations. For European organizations, especially those in finance, government, healthcare, and critical infrastructure sectors that rely on Apache Syncope for identity management, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to user credential security and overall identity governance. The breach of password confidentiality can also lead to regulatory non-compliance under GDPR due to inadequate protection of personal data. Although the vulnerability does not affect system integrity or availability directly, the exposure of credentials can indirectly lead to broader security incidents. The ease of exploitation without authentication or user interaction increases the threat level, particularly if database access controls are weak or compromised.

Summary

Apache Syncope is an open-source identity management system that can be configured to store user passwords encrypted with AES in its internal database. However, in versions 2.1, 3.0, and 4.0, when AES encryption is enabled for password storage, the system uses a hard-coded cryptographic key embedded in the source code rather than a unique, securely generated key. This design flaw (CWE-321) means that any attacker who gains access to the internal database can decrypt the stored AES-encrypted passwords by using the known hard-coded key, effectively exposing user credentials in cleartext. The vulnerability does not affect other encrypted attributes stored by Syncope but specifically targets password encryption. Exploitation requires no privileges or user interaction and can be performed remotely if the database is accessible. The vulnerability was assigned CVE-2025-65998 with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N), indicating high confidentiality impact but no impact on integrity or availability. Apache has addressed this issue in versions 3.0.15 and 4.0.3 by removing the hard-coded key and implementing proper key management. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. Organizations using affected versions should prioritize upgrading and reviewing their encryption key management policies to prevent credential compromise.

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 1 Dec 2025, 14:40 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-321

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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