Overview
The cybersecurity world is once again in the spotlight, this time revolving around a critical vulnerability found in Salesforce’s Tableau Server. This vulnerability, known as CVE-2025-52447, affects both Windows and Linux platforms and has been identified as an Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability. The discovery of this vulnerability is significant as it can potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage, posing serious threats to businesses and organizations using the affected server.
The severity of this issue is heightened by the fact that it allows Interface Manipulation, granting unauthorized data access to the production database cluster. This is a grave concern for any organization, as this unauthorized access could lead to the exposure of confidential and sensitive data.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-52447
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Tableau Server on Windows | before 2025.1.3
Tableau Server on Linux | before 2025.1.3
Tableau Server on Windows | before 2024.2.12
Tableau Server on Linux | before 2024.2.12
Tableau Server on Windows | before 2023.3.19
Tableau Server on Linux | before 2023.3.19
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises from the way the server handles the ‘set-initial-sql tabdoc’ command modules. A well-crafted command may allow an attacker to manipulate the user interface, thereby bypassing authorization checks. This ultimately grants the attacker unauthorized access to the production database cluster where they can potentially retrieve, alter, or delete sensitive data.
Conceptual Example Code
Although we won’t provide a direct exploit code to prevent misuse, the conceptual code might look something like this:
POST /set-initial-sql/tabdoc HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "user_controlled_key": "bypass_authorization:true" }In the above example, the ‘user_controlled_key’ is manipulated to bypass the authorization check. The server, failing to validate the legitimacy of the command, grants the attacker access to the production database cluster.