CVE-2025-54877 in Tuleap Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 08/29/2025
Tuleap is an Open Source Suite created to facilitate management of software development and collaboration. In Tuleap Community Edition versions before 16.10.99.1754050155 and Tuleap Enterprise Edition versions before 16.9-8 and before 16.10-5, an attacker can access to the content of the special and always there fields of accessible artifacts even if the permissions associated with the underlying fields do not allow it. This issue has been fixed in Tuleap Community Edition version 16.10.99.1754050155 and Tuleap Enterprise Edition versions 16.9-8 and 16.10-5.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/29/2025
CVE-2025-54877 represents a critical access control vulnerability within the Tuleap collaboration platform that undermines the fundamental security model designed to protect sensitive artifact data. This vulnerability exists in both Community and Enterprise editions of Tuleap, affecting versions prior to specific patch releases that address the underlying flaw. The issue stems from improper authorization checks that allow attackers to bypass field-level permissions, enabling unauthorized access to special fields that should remain restricted based on user privileges and artifact access controls. The vulnerability specifically targets the permission system that governs how users interact with artifact fields, creating a scenario where sensitive information can be accessed regardless of the configured access controls.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability manifests through a flaw in the artifact field access validation mechanism within Tuleap's permission architecture. When users attempt to access artifact data, the system fails to properly verify whether the requesting user possesses sufficient privileges to view specific field contents, particularly those designated as special fields. These fields typically contain sensitive information such as internal notes, security details, or other confidential data that should only be visible to authorized personnel. The flaw allows attackers to exploit the system's inconsistent handling of field-level permissions, effectively circumventing the access control policies that should govern such sensitive data exposure. This represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a failure in the authorization enforcement mechanisms.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-54877 extends beyond simple data exposure, potentially enabling attackers to gain insights into development processes, security configurations, and internal project information that should remain confidential. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability could access special fields containing sensitive development data, project planning information, or security-related details that could be leveraged for further attacks. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations relying on Tuleap for software development lifecycle management where artifact fields often contain proprietary information, security assessments, or internal communications that should remain protected. The exposure could facilitate advanced persistent threats, insider threat scenarios, or targeted attacks that exploit the leaked information to compromise the broader development environment.
Organizations utilizing Tuleap must immediately implement the recommended patches for both Community and Enterprise editions to remediate this vulnerability. The fix addresses the core authorization flaw by strengthening field-level permission checks and ensuring that all artifact field access requests undergo proper validation against user privileges and artifact access controls. Security teams should conduct thorough assessments of their Tuleap deployments to verify that all affected versions have been updated and that proper access controls are functioning as intended. Additionally, organizations should review their existing artifact field configurations to identify any special fields that may have been previously exposed due to this vulnerability. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization in software systems, and represents a significant concern under ATT&CK framework category TA0001 (Initial Access) through the exploitation of weak access controls to gain unauthorized data access. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that legitimate access patterns remain functional while the unauthorized access paths are properly closed.