CVE-2025-8118VulnerabilityPublished 30 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-8118: Polska Akademia Dostępności PAD CMS · Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts

Affects Polska Akademia Dostępności PAD CMSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.9 Medium · end of life, no fix coming : replace or isolate Polska Akademia Dostępności PAD CMS; no fix will be released.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.9Medium

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: None coming – the product is end of life

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: None
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, 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: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system 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 to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 30 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 2026-10-26.

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

No fix will be released: Polska Akademia Dostępności PAD CMS is end of life. Replace it, or isolate it from untrusted networks until you can.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Polska Akademia Dostępności PAD CMS	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Since no patches are available, organizations must implement compensating controls. First, deploy server-side rate limiting or account lockout mechanisms independent of client-side cookies to restrict login attempts. This can be done via web application firewalls (WAFs), reverse proxies, or custom server configurations. Second, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) to reduce the risk of compromised credentials leading to account takeover. Third, monitor authentication logs for abnormal login patterns indicative of brute-force attempts. Fourth, consider migrating away from PAD CMS to a supported and actively maintained content management system to eliminate exposure to this and other vulnerabilities. Finally, educate users on strong password practices and enforce password complexity requirements to reduce the effectiveness of brute-force attacks.

Description

CVE-2025-8118 is a medium severity vulnerability in the Polska Akademia Dostępności (PAD) CMS, caused by improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts (CWE-307). The CMS uses client-side cookies (login_count and login_timeout) to track login attempts, but does not maintain this state on the server, allowing attackers to reset these cookies and bypass brute-force protections. This affects all three templates of the product (www, bip, www+bip). The product is end-of-life, and no patches will be released. The vulnerability has a CVSS 4.0 score of 6.9, indicating a network-exploitable issue with no authentication or user interaction required, and limited impact on confidentiality. No known exploits are currently in the wild. European organizations using PAD CMS are at risk of credential brute-force attacks due to this flaw, especially given the lack of vendor support. Mitigation requires implementing server-side rate limiting or migrating to supported CMS platforms.

Impact

For European organizations using PAD CMS, this vulnerability poses a significant risk of unauthorized access through brute-force attacks. Attackers can repeatedly attempt to guess user credentials without being blocked, potentially leading to account compromise. This can result in unauthorized data access, defacement, or further exploitation within the affected networks. Given that PAD CMS is used in Poland and possibly other European countries for public-facing websites (including government or institutional portals), the impact on confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information could be substantial. The lack of vendor support due to the product's end-of-life status exacerbates the risk, as no official patches or fixes will be forthcoming. Organizations relying on this CMS may face compliance and reputational risks if breaches occur. The medium severity rating reflects that while the vulnerability does not directly allow remote code execution or full system compromise, it facilitates credential-based attacks that can lead to broader security incidents.

CWE-307Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not implement sufficient measures to prevent multiple failed authentication attempts within a short time frame.
Architecture and Design
Common protection mechanisms include: Disconnecting the user after a small number of failed attempts; Implementing a timeout; Locking out a targeted account; Requiring a computational task on the user's part.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authentication (opens in a new tab)
Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
TLS Cipher String (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Dictionary-based Password Attack (opens in a new tab)
Password Brute Forcing (opens in a new tab)
Password Spraying (opens in a new tab)
Credential Stuffing (opens in a new tab)
Use of Known Kerberos Credentials (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

cert.pl/posts/2025/09/CVE-2025-7063 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Oct 2025, 11:29 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-307

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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