Overview
The Austrian Archaeological Institute’s OpenAtlas platform has been discovered to contain a critical security vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-51536. This vulnerability pertains to a hardcoded Administrator password in OpenAtlas version 8.11.0, a serious issue that leaves systems open to potential unauthorized access and exploitation. Given the high Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score of 9.8, this matter requires urgent attention from system administrators, security experts, and all users of the affected product.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-51536
Severity: Critical (9.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
AI OpenAtlas | v8.11.0
How the Exploit Works
A hardcoded Administrator password in OpenAtlas v8.11.0 allows any remote attacker with network access to the system to potentially bypass authentication mechanisms. By exploiting this vulnerability, unauthorized users can gain full administrative rights over the system. This presents a variety of potential threats, including the alteration or deletion of sensitive data, unauthorized execution of commands, and the potential introduction of additional malicious software.
Conceptual Example Code
An attacker could potentially exploit the hardcoded password vulnerability like this:
POST /login HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
username=admin&password=hardcoded_passwordIn the above example, `hardcoded_password` is the hardcoded Administrator password present in the OpenAtlas v8.11.0. Once the attacker has gained access, they will have full administrative rights over the system.
Mitigation
The Austrian Archaeological Institute has published a patch to address this vulnerability. It is essential that system administrators of affected installations apply this patch without delay. Until the patch can be applied, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) may provide temporary mitigation. However, these measures should not be seen as a long-term solution.