CVE-2025-41652: Critical Authentication Bypass Vulnerability in Multiple Devices

Overview

A critical vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-41652, has been discovered in numerous devices that could potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage. This vulnerability stems from an underlying flaw in the device’s authorization mechanism, which in turn allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass the authentication.
This vulnerability is particularly significant due to its potential impact on multiple devices, which could range from personal computing devices to servers, IoT devices, and other networked systems. Given its severity and widespread potential for exploitation, it is crucial for system administrators, network managers, and individual users to understand the nature of CVE-2025-41652 and take appropriate steps to mitigate its impact.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-41652
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 9.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or potential data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Product A | Version 1.x to 2.x
Product B | Version 3.x to 4.x

How the Exploit Works

An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by either performing a brute-force attack to guess valid credentials or by using MD5 collision techniques to forge authentication hashes. The attacker does not require any privileges and there is no need for user interaction.
In particular, the MD5 collision technique involves the attacker creating two different inputs that hash to the same MD5 hash, thus tricking the system into accepting a malicious input. On the other hand, a brute-force attack involves the attacker trying all possible combinations of passwords until they find the correct one.

Conceptual Example Code

Here’s a conceptual example of a brute-force attack, which could be part of an HTTP request to exploit the vulnerability:

POST /login HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable-device.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
username=admin&password=guess1

In this example, the attacker attempts to log in with the username ‘admin’ and a guessed password ‘guess1’. The attacker would automate this process, changing the ‘password’ field with every request, until a valid credential pair is found.

Mitigation and Recommendations

To protect your system from this vulnerability, the first and most effective line of defense is to apply the vendor’s patch for the affected versions of the affected products. In case the patch is not immediately available, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could serve as a temporary mitigation strategy. These systems can help detect and block brute-force attacks or suspicious networking behavior that could be indicative of an attacker attempting to exploit this vulnerability.