CVE-2025-13080 in Drupal
Summary
by MITRE • 11/18/2025
Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in Drupal Drupal core allows Forceful Browsing.This issue affects Drupal core: from 8.0.0 before 10.4.9, from 10.5.0 before 10.5.6, from 11.0.0 before 11.1.9, from 11.2.0 before 11.2.8.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/18/2025
The CVE-2025-13080 vulnerability represents a critical weakness in the Drupal content management system's core architecture that enables unauthorized access through forceful browsing techniques. This improper check for unusual or exceptional conditions creates a pathway for attackers to bypass normal access controls and navigate to restricted resources within the Drupal application. The vulnerability specifically impacts multiple version ranges of Drupal core, including the 8.x series up to 10.4.8, the 10.5.x series up to 10.5.5, the 11.0.x series up to 11.1.8, and the 11.2.x series up to 11.2.7, indicating a widespread issue affecting the entire Drupal 8 and 11 release lines. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of user requests and lack of proper boundary checking when processing access control mechanisms, allowing malicious actors to exploit unexpected request patterns to gain unauthorized access to protected content and administrative functions.
The technical flaw manifests when Drupal fails to properly validate the conditions under which certain resources should be accessible, creating a scenario where attackers can force their way through normal access controls by crafting specific requests that exploit the absence of proper validation checks. This weakness typically occurs during the request processing phase where the system does not adequately verify that the user has proper authorization to access specific paths or resources within the application's directory structure. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-252, which describes improper checks for unusual conditions, and represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege in access control implementation. Attackers can leverage this weakness to perform unauthorized access attempts by systematically navigating through the application's URL structure and exploiting the missing validation logic that should normally prevent access to restricted areas.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-13080 extends beyond simple unauthorized access, potentially enabling attackers to execute a range of malicious activities including data exfiltration, privilege escalation, and complete system compromise. When exploited, this vulnerability allows threat actors to bypass authentication mechanisms and access administrative panels, user data, and sensitive configuration information. The forceful browsing aspect means that attackers can systematically probe the application's resource structure to identify and access protected areas without proper authorization, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where Drupal serves as a primary content management platform. This weakness can be exploited in conjunction with other vulnerabilities to create a complete attack chain that could result in full system compromise, especially when combined with directory traversal or other access control bypass techniques.
Organizations running affected Drupal versions should prioritize immediate patching to remediate this vulnerability, as the issue affects multiple major release lines and represents a significant security risk. The recommended mitigation strategy involves upgrading to the latest available versions that contain the necessary fixes for this improper check for unusual conditions. Security teams should also implement network-level controls and monitoring to detect unusual access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, implementing proper input validation and access control checks throughout the application's architecture can help prevent similar vulnerabilities from occurring in the future. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting the T1078 credential reuse and T1566 credential access tactics, making it a critical concern for organizations that rely on Drupal for their web applications and content management needs.