Overview
The cybersecurity world has yet another critical vulnerability to contend with: CVE-2025-42999. This vulnerability primarily affects the SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Metadata Uploader, which is used for uploading and managing metadata in SAP systems. This vulnerability is concerning due to the potential compromise of system confidentiality, integrity, and availability if exploited by a malicious actor.
What makes this vulnerability particularly alarming is the fact that it can be exploited by a privileged user to upload untrusted or malicious content. This content could potentially compromise the host system when deserialized, leading to data leakage or a full system compromise. It is therefore crucial for organizations that utilize SAP NetWeaver to understand the nature of this vulnerability and take immediate steps to mitigate it.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-42999
Severity: Critical (CVSS score: 9.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Impact: Compromise of system confidentiality, integrity, and availability
Affected Products
Escape the Surveillance Era
Most apps won’t tell you the truth.
They’re part of the problem.
Phone numbers. Emails. Profiles. Logs.
It’s all fuel for surveillance.
Ameeba Chat gives you a way out.
- • No phone number
- • No email
- • No personal info
- • Anonymous aliases
- • End-to-end encrypted
Chat without a trace.
Product | Affected Versions
SAP NetWeaver | All versions prior to the latest patch
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability exploits the deserialization process in the SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Metadata Uploader. When a privileged user uploads untrusted or malicious content, this content is deserialized by the system, potentially leading to a compromise of the host system.
The malicious actors can craft a payload that, when deserialized, executes arbitrary code of their choice. This could lead to actions such as data extraction, installation of additional malware, or even a full takeover of the host system.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This pseudocode represents a malicious payload being uploaded to the Metadata Uploader.
POST /sap/netweaver/vc/metadata HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{
"metadata": {
"file": "malicious_file.ser",
"upload_date": "2025-01-01",
"uploader": "privileged_user"
}
}In this example, `malicious_file.ser` is a serialized object that contains malicious code. When this object is deserialized by the SAP system, the malicious code is executed, leading to potential compromise of the system.