CVE-2025-41702: Critical JWT Secret Key Vulnerability in egOS WebGUI

Overview

The CVE-2025-41702 vulnerability poses a significant threat to any organization employing egOS WebGUI as a part of their technology stack. The vulnerability lies in the JWT (JSON Web Token) secret key, which is embedded and readable in the egOS WebGUI backend to the default user. This flaw can potentially allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to generate valid HS256 tokens and bypass any authentication and authorization mechanisms in place, leading to severe security breaches. Given the potential for system compromise or data leakage, understanding and mitigating this vulnerability is of utmost importance.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-41702
Severity: Critical (9.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

egOS WebGUI | All versions prior to the vendor patch

How the Exploit Works

The exploit works by leveraging the embedded JWT secret key in the egOS WebGUI backend. An unauthenticated remote attacker can read this key and generate valid HS256 tokens. These tokens can then be used to bypass the authentication/authorization mechanisms in place, effectively providing the attacker unrestricted access to the system. This can lead to unauthorized actions such as data manipulation, data theft, or even a complete system compromise.

Conceptual Example Code

Here is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited:

import jwt
# Read the JWT secret key
secret_key = read_jwt_secret_key_from_egos_webgui()
# Generate a valid HS256 token
payload = {"admin": True}
token = jwt.encode(payload, secret_key, algorithm='HS256')
# Use this token to bypass authentication/authorization
headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}
response = requests.get("http://target.example.com/protected/resource", headers=headers)

In this conceptual example, an attacker reads the JWT secret key from the egOS WebGUI backend, generates a valid HS256 token with a payload that includes administrative privileges, and uses this token to bypass authentication and access a protected resource.

Mitigation Guidance

The primary mitigation strategy for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-provided patch. If applying the patch is not immediately feasible, organizations can use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation strategy. These can monitor and potentially block anomalous or malicious network traffic, thereby reducing the risk associated with this vulnerability. However, it’s crucial to note that these are temporary measures and applying the vendor patch is the recommended long-term solution.