Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-4658

Auth Bypass in Openpubkey ≤ 0.10.0

Published
13 May 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 9.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0033 25th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-4658 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness (CWE-305) vulnerability in Openpubkey Openpubkey. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Supply Chain Compromise (T1195); ranked at the 25th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) and IA-8 (Identification and Authentication (Non-organizational Users)) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Versions of OpenPubkey library prior to 0.10.0 contained a vulnerability that would allow a specially crafted JWS to bypass signature verification. As OPKSSH depends on the OpenPubkey library for authentication, this vulnerability in OpenPubkey also applies to OPKSSH versions prior…

more

to 0.5.0 and would allow an attacker to bypass OPKSSH authentication.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1195 Supply Chain Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may manipulate products or product delivery mechanisms prior to receipt by a final consumer for the purpose of data or system compromise.
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.
T1195.002 Compromise Software Supply Chain Initial Access
Adversaries may manipulate application software prior to receipt by a final consumer for the purpose of data or system compromise.
T1542 Pre-OS Boot Stealth
Adversaries may abuse Pre-OS Boot mechanisms as a way to establish persistence on a system.
T1553 Subvert Trust Controls Defense Impairment
Adversaries may undermine security controls that will either warn users of untrusted activity or prevent execution of untrusted programs.
T1553.002 Code Signing Defense Impairment
Adversaries may create, acquire, or steal code signing materials to sign their malware or tools.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-3757Same product: Openpubkey Openpubkey
CVE-2026-5050Shared CWE-347
CVE-2026-48558Shared CWE-347
CVE-2026-23967Shared CWE-347
CVE-2025-43023Shared CWE-347
CVE-2024-23480Shared CWE-347
CVE-2026-50634Shared CWE-347
CVE-2025-64786Shared CWE-347
CVE-2023-23432Shared CWE-347
CVE-2026-28802Shared CWE-347

Affected Assets

openpubkey
openpubkey
≤ 0.10.0
openpubkey
opkssh
≤ 0.5.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 19 hardening rules · 8 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.3
  • V7.2.4

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Requires unique identification and authentication of users, structurally blocking bypass of the mechanism.

Requires unique identification and authentication of non-organizational users, blocking bypass paths.

Requiring cryptographic protection mechanisms forces correct signature verification to be implemented for data protection.

Mandating integrity verification tools directly requires proper cryptographic signature checking to detect unauthorized changes.

Enforces approved authorizations so a bypass weakness cannot be exploited to reach resources.

Protecting session authenticity requires correct verification of cryptographic signatures or equivalent mechanisms.

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.PS-06 full match
prevents

Secure development practices throughout the SDLC prevent the primary weaknesses that enable authentication bypass.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Strong authentication mechanisms and policy enforcement directly reduce bypass opportunities arising from implementation flaws.

PR.DS-01 mostly match
prevents

Digital signatures are explicitly cited to protect integrity of data-at-rest, so proper verification directly mitigates the weakness.

PR.DS-02 mostly match
prevents

Digital signatures are explicitly cited to protect integrity of data-in-transit, so proper verification directly mitigates the weakness.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Identifying and recording vulnerabilities catches the primary weaknesses that allow authentication bypass.

ID.RA-09 partial match
prevents

Requires assessing authenticity and integrity of acquired assets, which commonly relies on signature verification but is limited to pre-acquisition.

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.

finds

Security testing can detect authentication bypass conditions before deployment.

prevents

Establishing approved cryptographic solutions and usage practices lowers the probability that signature-verification steps will be omitted or incorrectly implemented.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle reduces likelihood of introducing bypass flaws during implementation.

prevents

Secure coding practices help prevent the primary weakness that enables authentication bypass.

mitigates

Information access restriction complements authentication by limiting what can be reached even if bypass occurs.

prevents

Secure authentication mechanisms directly address bypass risks in the implemented authentication process.

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-248574 YUM must be configured to prevent the installation of patches, service packs, device drivers, or OL 8 system components that have not been digitally signed using a certificate that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-347
  • V-248575 OL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-347
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
  • V-271525 OL 9 must have GPG signature verification enabled for all software repositories. prevents CWE-347
  • V-271523 OL 9 must check the GPG signature of locally installed software packages before installation. prevents CWE-347
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204447 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components from a repository without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-347
  • V-204448 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-347
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230264 RHEL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components from a repository without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-347
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257822 RHEL 9 must have GPG signature verification enabled for all software repositories. prevents CWE-347
Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-305
Ubuntu 24.04 (1 rule)
  • V-270675 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS when booted must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-305

References