CVE-2025-23015
Apache Cassandra 3.0.0 – 3.0.31
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-23015 is a high-severity Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions (CWE-267) vulnerability in Apache Cassandra. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Access Token Manipulation (T1134); ranked in the top 41% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and AC-5 (Separation of Duties) — 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-2025-23015 is a Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions vulnerability in Apache Cassandra, classified under CWE-267. It affects Apache Cassandra versions through 3.0.30, 3.11.17, 4.0.15, 4.1.7, and 5.0.2. The flaw allows a user with MODIFY permission on all keyspaces to perform unsafe actions against a system resource, enabling privilege escalation to superuser within a targeted Cassandra cluster. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for significant confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
An attacker requires low privileges—specifically, MODIFY permission on all keyspaces—and can exploit this over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation grants superuser privileges in the Cassandra cluster, potentially allowing full control over the database, data manipulation, or further lateral movement. Operators who have granted broad MODIFY permissions across all keyspaces are particularly at risk and should audit access controls for potential breaches.
Apache advisories recommend upgrading to remediated versions: 3.0.31, 3.11.18, 4.0.16, 4.1.8, or 5.0.3, which address the issue. Additional guidance is available in the Apache security announcement and related oss-security mailing list posts, as well as vendor-specific advisories like NetApp's NTAP-20250214-0006.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-0230
Vulnerability Data
Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions vulnerability in Apache Cassandra. An user with MODIFY permission ON ALL KEYSPACES can escalate privileges to superuser within a targeted Cassandra cluster via unsafe actions to a system resource. Operators granting data MODIFY permission on…
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all keyspaces on affected versions should review data access rules for potential breaches. This issue affects Apache Cassandra through 3.0.30, 3.11.17, 4.0.15, 4.1.7, 5.0.2. Users are recommended to upgrade to versions 3.0.31, 3.11.18, 4.0.16, 4.1.8, 5.0.3, which fixes the issue.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 10 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
V13.2.2V3.7.3V9.2.2V9.2.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Least privilege directly requires that privileges grant only the minimal actions needed, preventing definition of overly broad privileges that include unintended unsafe operations.
Separation of duties splits high-risk actions across multiple privileges so that no single privilege can perform the full unsafe sequence.
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.
Defining and enforcing least-privilege permissions directly reduces the chance that a privilege permits unintended unsafe actions.
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.
Use of privileged utility programs restricts dangerous tools but does not address unsafe actions within assigned privileges.
Access control policy can limit unsafe privilege use but does not define safe actions for each privilege.
Access rights assignment can restrict privileges to intended actions, yet does not guarantee the privilege itself is safe.
Segregation of duties reduces risk of unsafe actions by splitting privileges but does not address unsafe privilege definitions.
Privileged access rights control can restrict unsafe privileges, yet does not ensure the privilege definition itself is safe.
Secure development lifecycle can catch unsafe privilege definitions during design but does not prevent them at runtime.
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 9 (1 rule)
- V-271725 OL 9 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-267
Ubuntu 22.04 (3 rules)
- V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-267
- V-260529 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. prevents CWE-267
- V-260542 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must prevent direct login into the root account. prevents CWE-267