Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-56422

RCE in Limesurvey ≤ 6.14.3

Published
10 March 2026
Modified
05 July 2026
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 0.0085 55th percentile
Risk Priority 73 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-56422 is a critical-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Limesurvey Limesurvey. 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 45% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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-2025-56422 is a deserialization vulnerability (CWE-502) affecting LimeSurvey versions prior to v6.15.0+250623. Published on 2026-03-10, it 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), indicating critical severity due to its potential for high-impact exploitation across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The vulnerability enables a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected server with low attack complexity and no user interaction required. Exploitation occurs over the network, allowing attackers without privileges to compromise the LimeSurvey instance fully.

Mitigation involves upgrading to LimeSurvey v6.15.0+250623 or later. Additional details are available in advisories from the vendor at http://limesurvey.com and a security advisory at https://github.com/hongancalif/security-advisories/blob/main/CVE-2025-56422.md.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A deserialization vulnerability in LimeSurvey before v6.15.0+250623 allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the server.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
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-2020-11455Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2024-39063Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2025-56421Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2025-41375Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2025-41376Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2024-6933Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2024-42903Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2025-70797Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2024-28709Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey
CVE-2024-28710Same product: Limesurvey Limesurvey

Affected Assets

limesurvey
limesurvey
≤ 6.14.3

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can uncover deserialization flaws before deployment.

Input validation directly stops deserialization of untrusted data by ensuring inputs are valid before processing.

Engineering principles such as safe deserialization and input sanitization structurally prevent the weakness from being introduced.

Integrity verification tools can detect malformed or tampered serialized data after the fact.

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-02 none match
prevents

PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.

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 includes validation of deserialization routines and the use of untrusted data, reducing the likelihood that unsafe object reconstruction will be deployed.

prevents

Requiring vetted libraries, regular updates and SAST before release reduces the likelihood that deserialization logic will accept and act on attacker-controlled serialized objects.

finds

Regular scanning of third-party libraries and timely patching reduce the likelihood that unsafe deserialization vulnerabilities remain active.

none

Mandatory malware scanning of data received over networks or storage media intercepts malicious serialized payloads before they are deserialized by the target application.

References