Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-25164 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Open-Emr Openemr. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 18th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
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-2026-25164 is a missing authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) in OpenEMR, a free and open-source electronic health records and medical practice management application. In versions prior to 8.0.0, the REST API route table defined in `apis/routes/_rest_routes_standard.inc.php` fails to invoke `RestConfig::request_authorization_check()` for document and insurance routes. While other patient-related routes, such as encounters and patients/med, properly enforce OpenEMR access control lists (ACLs), this omission allows any valid API bearer token to bypass ACL restrictions and access or modify documents and insurance data across all patients, exposing protected health information (PHI).
The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N), indicating high confidentiality and integrity impacts with low attack complexity. Exploitation requires low privileges—an attacker needs only a valid bearer token from any authenticated API client. Over networks, they can remotely read or alter every patient's documents and insurance details without user interaction, potentially leading to unauthorized PHI disclosure or manipulation in healthcare environments.
OpenEMR version 8.0.0 addresses the issue by adding the missing authorization check to the affected routes. Security practitioners should upgrade to this version immediately. Relevant advisories and patch details are available in the GitHub security advisory (GHSA-f64c-h2gh-g3f9) and the fixing commit (c5e1c44774156cd0d04f4e08ed6a81fe76d38e92).
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-8704
Vulnerability Data
OpenEMR is a free and open source electronic health records and medical practice management application. Prior to version 8.0.0, the REST API route table in `apis/routes/_rest_routes_standard.inc.php` does not call `RestConfig::request_authorization_check()` for the document and insurance routes. Other patient routes in…
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the same file (e.g. encounters, patients/med) call it with the appropriate ACL. As a result, any valid API bearer token can access or modify every patient's documents and insurance data, regardless of the token’s OpenEMR ACLs—effectively exposing all document and insurance PHI to any authenticated API client. Version 8.0.0 patches 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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- 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
AC-3 directly requires enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally eliminating missing authorization checks.
AC-24 mandates that access control decisions are applied to each request, preventing bypass of authorization logic.
AC-25 requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor that ensures authorization checks cannot be omitted.
AC-6 reduces the set of actions reachable without proper authorization, limiting blast radius of missing 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.
Explicitly requires defining, enforcing, and reviewing authorizations and least privilege, directly preventing missing 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.
Requiring authentication and credentials before any access occurs eliminates the absence of authorization checks that would otherwise allow an unauthenticated actor to reach protected resources.
Requiring formal authorization of every access request before rights are granted ensures that checks for required permissions are performed, preventing missing authorization checks from being introduced.
Mandatory authorization checks and central records of granted rights ensure that every access attempt is preceded by an explicit decision rather than relying on missing checks.
Segregating the approval of access rights from their implementation provides an independent check that reduces the impact of missing authorization checks in the resulting system configuration.
By requiring competent outsiders to verify that every function enforces the need-to-know principle, the control lowers the likelihood that missing authorization checks persist undetected.
Defining authorization responsibilities and reviewing risk-treatment progress throughout the project lifecycle catches missing authorization checks before the system is deployed.
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-862
- V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
- V-251704 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
- V-204429 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862