Overview
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has identified a significant security vulnerability within Lexmark Cloud Services’ badge management system, known as CVE-2025-4046. This flaw affects all organizations that use Lexmark Cloud Services for badge management. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it enables an attacker to reassign badges within their organization, potentially compromising the system or leading to data leakage.
The flaw is significant because of the increasingly ubiquitous use of cloud services in business and the reliance on badge management systems for access control in secure environments. This vulnerability exposes organizations to potential insider threats, with rogue employees or infiltrators potentially exploiting this flaw to gain unauthorized access to sensitive areas or information.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-4046
Severity: High (8.5 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Lexmark Cloud Services | All versions prior to Vendor patch
How the Exploit Works
An attacker exploiting this vulnerability would initially require access to the network on which Lexmark Cloud Services operates. They would then exploit the missing authorization vulnerability in the badge management system, allowing them to reassign badges within their organization without the necessary permissions. This could potentially allow them to elevate privileges, gain unauthorized access to sensitive areas, or access and exfiltrate confidential data.
Conceptual Example Code
Here’s a conceptual example of a malicious HTTP request that could potentially be used to exploit this vulnerability:
PATCH /api/v1/badges/123 HTTP/1.1
Host: lexmarkcloud.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer malicious_token
{
"user_id": "malicious_user_id",
"badge_id": "123",
"new_role": "admin"
}In this conceptual example, the attacker uses a PATCH request to update the role of a badge to ‘admin’ without the necessary permissions.
Mitigation
Lexmark has released a patch to address this vulnerability. All users of Lexmark Cloud Services are strongly urged to apply this patch as soon as possible to mitigate the risk associated with this flaw. In the interim, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. These can be configured to identify and block potentially malicious requests that attempt to exploit this vulnerability.