CVE-2025-1007 in OpenVSX
Summary
by MITRE • 02/19/2025
In OpenVSX version v0.9.0 to v0.20.0, the /user/namespace/{namespace}/details API allows a user to edit all
namespace details, even if the user is not a namespace Owner or Contributor. The details include: name, description, website, support link and social media links. The same issues existed in /user/namespace/{namespace}/details/logo and allowed a user to change
the logo.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/31/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-1007 represents a critical access control flaw within the OpenVSX registry platform affecting versions 0.9.0 through 0.20.0. This security weakness manifests in the API endpoints designed for namespace management, specifically the /user/namespace/{namespace}/details and /user/namespace/{namespace}/details/logo routes. The flaw allows unauthorized users to manipulate namespace metadata regardless of their actual permissions within the system, fundamentally undermining the platform's authorization mechanisms and creating a significant vector for privilege escalation attacks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient authorization checks within the API layer that governs namespace modification operations. When users attempt to access the namespace details endpoint, the system fails to validate whether the requesting user possesses the necessary administrative privileges to modify the namespace information. This authentication bypass affects multiple metadata fields including namespace name, description, website URL, support link, and social media references, while the logo modification endpoint exhibits identical authorization flaws. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-285, which addresses insufficient authorization within software systems, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege that should govern all access control mechanisms.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-1007 extends beyond simple unauthorized modifications, as it enables potential attackers to manipulate namespace metadata in ways that could compromise platform integrity and user trust. An attacker could alter namespace descriptions to include malicious links, modify website references to redirect users to phishing sites, or manipulate social media connections to spread misinformation. The logo modification capability adds another dimension of potential abuse, allowing malicious actors to replace legitimate namespace logos with deceptive imagery that could mislead users into believing they are interacting with trusted entities. This vulnerability creates opportunities for social engineering attacks and could significantly damage the reputation of legitimate namespace owners while potentially enabling supply chain attacks against the broader open source ecosystem that relies on OpenVSX for extension distribution.
Organizations utilizing OpenVSX within their development workflows face substantial risk from this vulnerability, particularly those that depend on namespace integrity for extension verification and trust establishment. The flaw creates an attack surface that could be exploited by malicious actors to compromise the trust model that OpenVSX maintains between namespace owners and consumers. Security teams should immediately implement mitigation strategies including immediate version upgrades to patched releases, implementing additional API rate limiting and monitoring for unauthorized namespace modifications, and conducting comprehensive audits of existing namespace metadata to identify any potential tampering. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper API security testing and the need for comprehensive authorization validation across all user-facing endpoints, particularly those that modify critical system metadata. This issue aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts usage and represents a clear path for adversaries to establish persistent access through unauthorized administrative capabilities.