Overview
The CVE-2025-54378 is a critical vulnerability found in HAX CMS, a content management system (CMS) that allows you to manage your microsite universe with PHP or NodeJs backends. This vulnerability opens up the possibility of unauthorized access to resources through API endpoints, as they fail to perform necessary authorization checks. This can potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage, putting users’ data at serious risk. Given the severity of this vulnerability, it’s crucial for organizations using HAX CMS to understand its potential impact and take the necessary steps to mitigate it.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-54378
Severity: High (8.3 CVSS Severity Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage
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Product | Affected Versions
haxcms-nodejs | 11.0.13 and below
haxcms-php | 11.0.8 and below
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises from the lack of authorization checks in the API endpoints of the HAX CMS application. While the application does verify if a user is authenticated, it does not check whether a user has the necessary authorization to interact with a certain resource. This means that an attacker, once authenticated, can interact with any resource within the application, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data or even system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
The lack of authorization checks could be exploited as follows:
POST /api/resource-endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable-haxcms.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {valid-authentication-token}
{ "operation": "delete", "resource_id": "sensitive_resource" }In this example, an attacker uses a valid authentication token (which could be obtained through various means) to send a request to delete a sensitive resource. Since the application does not check if the user has the necessary authorization to perform this operation, the request is executed, leading to potential data loss or system compromise.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are recommended to update their HAX CMS to versions 11.0.14 of haxcms-nodejs and 11.0.9 of haxcms-php, where this issue has been fixed. As a temporary measure, users could also employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to monitor and block suspicious requests.