CVE-2025-12455 in Vertica
Summary
by MITRE • 03/13/2026
Observable response discrepancy vulnerability in OpenText™ Vertica allows Password Brute Forcing. The vulnerability could lead to Password Brute Forcing in Vertica management console application.This issue affects Vertica: from 10.0 through 10.X, from 11.0 through 11.X, from 12.0 through 12.X.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/20/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-12455 represents a critical security flaw in OpenText™ Vertica database management system that manifests through observable response discrepancies during authentication processes. This weakness specifically impacts the Vertica management console application and creates conditions that enable attackers to perform password brute force attacks against the system. The vulnerability affects multiple version ranges including 10.0 through 10.X, 11.0 through 11.X, and 12.0 through 12.X, indicating it is a persistent issue across several major releases of the database platform. The root cause lies in the inconsistent response timing or behavior that occurs when authentication attempts are made, providing attackers with measurable differences that can be exploited to determine valid credentials through automated guessing mechanisms.
This vulnerability directly relates to CWE-305 Authentication Bypass and falls under the broader category of weak authentication mechanisms that allow for credential guessing attacks. The technical flaw exploits timing variations in the authentication response handling where successful authentication attempts produce different response characteristics compared to failed attempts. Attackers can leverage this inconsistency to systematically test password combinations by monitoring response times or other observable behaviors, making password brute force attacks significantly more effective than random guessing. The vulnerability essentially creates a side-channel attack vector that bypasses normal security controls by exploiting the predictable differences in system behavior during authentication processes.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-12455 extends beyond simple credential theft as it provides attackers with a pathway to gain unauthorized access to critical database management functions. Once compromised, attackers can manipulate database configurations, access sensitive data, modify system settings, and potentially escalate privileges within the Vertica environment. The vulnerability affects the management console specifically, which typically provides administrative access to database operations, user management, and system configuration parameters. This creates a significant risk for organizations that rely on Vertica for business-critical applications, as unauthorized access to management interfaces can lead to complete system compromise and data breaches.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including enforcing strong password policies with minimum length requirements of at least 12 characters and complexity requirements, implementing account lockout mechanisms after failed authentication attempts, and deploying network-level protections such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems to monitor for brute force activity. Additionally, administrators should consider disabling remote access to the management console where possible and implementing multi-factor authentication for all administrative accounts. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of regular security updates and patches, as this issue likely requires specific vendor fixes to address the response discrepancy behaviors. Network segmentation and monitoring solutions should be deployed to detect unusual authentication patterns and automated attack attempts that may indicate exploitation of this vulnerability.