CVE-2025-10640

Critical

Published: 21 October 2025

Published

21 October 2025

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0046 64.2th percentile

Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-10640 is a critical-severity Client-Side Enforcement of Server-Side Security (CWE-602) vulnerability in Sec Consult (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 35.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

Enforces approved authorizations for logical access server-side, directly addressing the missing validation of stored procedure return values that allows authentication bypass.

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

prevent

Requires unique identification and authentication of organizational users before granting access to the administrative console, preventing unauthenticated exploitation.

AC-14 Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication good match

prevent

Limits and documents permitted actions without identification or authentication, prohibiting administrative access to sensitive data via the unauthenticated TCP port 12306.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

The vulnerability is a critical authentication bypass in a network-accessible service (TCP port 12306) allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to gain full administrative access to the server, directly mapping to T1190: Exploit Public-Facing Application.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

An unauthenticated attacker with access to TCP port 12306 of the WorkExaminer server can exploit missing server-side authentication checks to bypass the login prompt in the WorkExaminer Professional console to gain administrative access to the WorkExaminer server and therefore all…

sensitive monitoring data. This includes monitored screenshots and keystrokes of all users. The WorkExaminer Professional console is used for administrative access to the server. Before access to the console is granted administrators must login. Internally, a custom protocol is used to call a respective stored procedure on the MSSQL database. The return value of the call is not validated on the server-side. Instead it is only validated client-side which allows to bypass authentication.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2025-10640 affects the WorkExaminer server, specifically the Professional console used for administrative access, which listens on TCP port 12306. The vulnerability stems from missing server-side authentication checks, where a custom protocol calls a stored procedure on the MSSQL database, but the return value is validated only on the client side. This client-side enforcement (CWE-602) allows attackers to bypass the login prompt entirely. The issue was published on 2025-10-21 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An unauthenticated attacker with network access to TCP port 12306 can exploit this flaw remotely with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation grants full administrative access to the WorkExaminer server, exposing all sensitive monitoring data, including screenshots and keystrokes captured from monitored users.

For details on mitigation, patches, or workarounds, refer to the advisories from SEC Consult at https://r.sec-consult.com/workexaminer and the Full Disclosure mailing list posting at http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Oct/19.