Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-10611

Access Control in Wso2 Api Manager 2.1.0 … 4.5.0

Published
16 October 2025
Modified
21 November 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0077 52th percentile
Risk Priority 72 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-10611 is a critical-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Wso2 Api Manager. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 48% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-10611 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS score 9.8, CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) published on 2025-10-16, associated with CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization). It stems from an insufficient access control implementation in multiple WSO2 products, enabling attackers to bypass authentication and authorization checks for certain REST APIs and invoke them without proper validation.

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely by unauthenticated attackers requiring no privileges, low attack complexity, and no user interaction. Successful exploitation allows a malicious actor to gain administrative access and perform unauthenticated and unauthorized administrative operations.

Mitigation details are available in the WSO2 security advisory at https://security.docs.wso2.com/en/latest/security-announcements/security-advisories/2025/WSO2-2025-4585/.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Due to an insufficient access control implementation in multiple WSO2 Products, authentication and authorization checks for certain REST APIs can be bypassed, allowing them to be invoked without proper validation. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to a malicious…

more

actor gaining administrative access and performing unauthenticated and unauthorized administrative operations.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system.
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-7096Same product: Wso2 Api Manager
CVE-2024-7097Same product: Wso2 Api Manager
CVE-2024-6914Same product: Wso2 Api Manager
CVE-2024-3511Same product: Wso2 Api Manager
CVE-2023-6837Same product: Wso2 Api Manager
CVE-2024-2321Same product: Wso2 Api Manager
CVE-2025-10908Same product: Wso2 Identity Server
CVE-2025-9312Same product: Wso2 Api Control Plane
CVE-2025-15039Same product: Wso2 Api Control Plane
CVE-2025-9955Same vendor: Wso2

Affected Assets

wso2
api control plane
4.5.0
wso2
api manager
2.1.0, 2.2.0, 2.5.0, 2.6.0, 3.0.0
wso2
identity server
5.10.0, 5.11.0, 5.3.0, 5.5.0, 5.6.0
wso2
identity server as key manager
5.10.0, 5.3.0, 5.5.0, 5.6.0, 5.7.0
wso2
open banking am
1.4.0, 1.5.0, 2.0.0
wso2
open banking iam
2.0.0
wso2
open banking km
1.4.0, 1.5.0
wso2
traffic manager
4.5.0
wso2
universal gateway
4.5.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 directly requires correct enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally preventing incorrect checks.

AC-24 ensures access-control decisions are made and applied consistently, reducing the chance of an incorrect authorization result.

A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.

Least-privilege assignments shrink the set of authorizations that must be checked correctly, limiting exposure to flawed checks.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.

prevents

Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.

prevents

By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
  • V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863

References