CVE-2025-49829 in conjur
Summary
by MITRE • 07/15/2025
Conjur provides secrets management and application identity for infrastructure. Missing validations in Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted allows authenticated attackers to inject resources into the database and to bypass permission checks. This issue affects Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted (formerly Conjur Enterprise) prior to versions 13.5.1 and 13.6.1 and Conjur OSS prior to version 1.22.1. Conjur OSS version 1.22.1 and Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted versions 13.5.1 and 13.6.1 fix the issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/12/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-49829 represents a critical authorization bypass flaw within Conjur's secrets management platform, specifically affecting both the self-hosted Secrets Manager and the open-source Conjur OSS implementations. This security weakness stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms that permit authenticated attackers to manipulate the underlying database through resource injection techniques. The flaw fundamentally undermines the integrity of Conjur's access control system by allowing malicious actors to circumvent established permission boundaries and potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive secrets and credentials stored within the system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability manifests through inadequate sanitization of user inputs within the database interaction layer of Conjur's Secrets Manager. Attackers with valid authentication credentials can exploit this weakness to inject malicious resources or manipulate existing database entries, effectively bypassing the permission checks that should govern access to different secrets and identities within the system. This issue falls under the category of CWE-20, "Improper Input Validation," which directly relates to the failure to properly validate or sanitize inputs before processing them within the application's data handling mechanisms. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe because it operates at the database level, where the attacker can manipulate core system resources and potentially escalate privileges beyond their initial authenticated access.
The operational implications of this vulnerability extend far beyond simple data access issues, as it fundamentally compromises the security posture of organizations relying on Conjur for secrets management. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to inject new secrets, modify existing credentials, or manipulate the permission structure to gain access to resources they should not be authorized to view or modify. This capability directly violates the principle of least privilege and can lead to complete compromise of the secrets management infrastructure, potentially exposing sensitive production credentials, API keys, and other critical authentication materials. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of Conjur's offerings, specifically targeting releases prior to 13.5.1/13.6.1 for Secrets Manager Self-Hosted and 1.22.1 for Conjur OSS, indicating that a significant portion of deployed instances could be vulnerable.
Organizations utilizing Conjur's secrets management platform should immediately implement mitigation strategies to protect their infrastructure from exploitation of this vulnerability. The primary recommended action involves upgrading to the patched versions 13.5.1/13.6.1 for Secrets Manager Self-Hosted and 1.22.1 for Conjur OSS, which contain the necessary input validation improvements and permission enforcement mechanisms. Additionally, security teams should conduct comprehensive audits of their Conjur deployments to identify any unauthorized access patterns or suspicious database activities that may indicate exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and monitoring of database access patterns should be enhanced to detect potential abuse of this vulnerability, as the attack vectors could potentially be leveraged for lateral movement within the infrastructure. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK technique T1566.002 "Phishing for Information" and T1078.004 "Valid Accounts" highlights the importance of implementing robust monitoring and access control measures to prevent unauthorized exploitation of authenticated accounts through this database injection mechanism.