Overview
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, new vulnerabilities constantly emerge, posing significant threats to organizations globally. One such recent vulnerability is CVE-2025-42964, an issue within SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal Administration. This serious vulnerability allows privileged users to upload unverified or malicious content, which, when deserialized, has the potential to compromise the host system’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Given the ubiquity of SAP systems within large corporations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk that requires immediate attention and mitigation.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-42964
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: High (Privileged user)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal Administration | All versions prior to the vendor patch
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of a vulnerability in the SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal Administration’s content upload feature. When a privileged user uploads unverified or malicious content, the system deserializes the content without any security checks. Because of this, a malicious actor with privileged access can upload crafted content that, when deserialized, can execute arbitrary code, potentially compromising the system’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Conceptual Example Code
The vulnerability might be exploited like this:
POST /upload/content HTTP/1.1
Host: sapnetweaver.example.com
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Authorization: Bearer <privileged-user-token>
{ "malicious_serialized_object": "..." }In this example, a privileged user sends a POST request to the /upload/content endpoint. The malicious_serialized_object in the body of the request contains the malicious payload that, when deserialized by the system, compromises the system’s security.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, it is highly recommended to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. Until then, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary measure to detect and prevent exploitation of this vulnerability. However, these are not foolproof measures and the application of the vendor patch should not be delayed.
Remember, staying vigilant and proactive in applying updates and patches is a cornerstone of maintaining a strong cybersecurity posture.