CVE-2025-6023 in Grafana
Summary
by MITRE • 07/18/2025
An open redirect vulnerability has been identified in Grafana OSS that can be exploited to achieve XSS attacks. The vulnerability was introduced in Grafana v11.5.0.
The open redirect can be chained with path traversal vulnerabilities to achieve XSS.
Fixed in versions 12.0.2+security-01, 11.6.3+security-01, 11.5.6+security-01, 11.4.6+security-01 and 11.3.8+security-01
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/20/2025
The vulnerability CVE-2025-6023 represents a critical open redirect flaw in Grafana OSS that fundamentally undermines the security posture of the monitoring platform. This issue was introduced in Grafana version 11.5.0 and affects the core redirect functionality that is essential for user authentication flows and navigation within the application. The open redirect mechanism, when improperly validated, allows malicious actors to manipulate the redirect parameters to point to attacker-controlled domains, creating a dangerous pathway for various attack vectors. This vulnerability specifically impacts the authentication and authorization mechanisms that rely on redirect URLs to maintain user sessions and navigate between different application components. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation practices in the redirect handling code, where user-supplied redirect parameters are not adequately sanitized or verified against a trusted domain list. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability maps to CWE-601 which describes open redirect vulnerabilities where web applications redirect users to external domains without proper validation.
The technical exploitation of CVE-2025-6023 leverages the inherent weakness in how Grafana processes redirect URLs, particularly in the authentication flow where redirect parameters are used to return users to their intended destination after login or other security operations. Attackers can craft malicious URLs that contain crafted redirect parameters pointing to malicious domains, which then can be used to deliver cross-site scripting payloads. The vulnerability becomes particularly dangerous when chained with existing path traversal vulnerabilities, as demonstrated in the exploit chain where the open redirect serves as a stepping stone for XSS attacks. This chaining mechanism allows attackers to bypass standard security controls by first using the open redirect to establish a malicious context, then leveraging path traversal to inject malicious code that executes in the victim's browser context. The vulnerability affects the fundamental security model of Grafana's redirect handling, where the application fails to validate that redirect destinations are within the trusted domain scope, creating an attack surface that can be exploited for session hijacking, credential theft, and arbitrary code execution.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-6023 extends beyond simple XSS delivery mechanisms, as it fundamentally compromises the trust model of Grafana's authentication system. Organizations using affected versions of Grafana face significant risks including unauthorized access to monitoring data, potential privilege escalation, and the ability for attackers to establish persistent malicious sessions. The vulnerability particularly affects enterprise environments where Grafana is used for critical infrastructure monitoring, as attackers can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to sensitive operational data and system configurations. The chained nature of this vulnerability with path traversal issues means that the attack surface expands significantly, as attackers can leverage multiple weaknesses in the application stack to achieve more sophisticated attacks. This vulnerability also impacts the security of Grafana's user interface components, potentially allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts that can capture user credentials, modify dashboard configurations, or exfiltrate sensitive monitoring data. The vulnerability's presence in Grafana versions 11.5.0 and later makes it particularly concerning for organizations that may have deployed these versions without immediate patching, as the attack vectors are well-documented and easily reproducible.
Organizations should immediately implement comprehensive mitigation strategies including immediate patching of affected Grafana versions to the fixed releases mentioned in the advisory. The patched versions 12.0.2+security-01, 11.6.3+security-01, 11.5.6+security-01, 11.4.6+security-01, and 11.3.8+security-01 contain the necessary fixes to address the open redirect vulnerability. Additionally, organizations should implement network-level controls to monitor and block suspicious redirect patterns, particularly those pointing to external domains or non-verified endpoints. The mitigation strategy should include implementing strict URL validation mechanisms that enforce domain whitelisting for redirect operations, as recommended by ATT&CK framework techniques T1566 for phishing and T1071 for application layer protocols. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block malicious redirect patterns, and conduct thorough security assessments to identify any potential exploitation attempts. Regular security monitoring and log analysis should be enhanced to detect anomalous redirect behavior that may indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and the principle of least privilege in web application development, where redirect mechanisms should always validate that destination URLs are within the trusted application scope. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as content security policies and strict transport security headers to provide additional layers of protection against XSS and related attacks that may leverage this vulnerability.