CVE-2025-9549 in Facets
Summary
by MITRE • 10/11/2025
Missing Authorization vulnerability in Drupal Facets allows Forceful Browsing.This issue affects Facets: from 0.0.0 before 2.0.10, from 3.0.0 before 3.0.1.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/16/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-9549 represents a critical authorization flaw within the Drupal Facets module that enables forceful browsing attacks through improper access control mechanisms. This issue manifests when users can bypass intended authorization checks to access facets they should not be permitted to view, fundamentally undermining the security model of the affected Drupal installations. The vulnerability specifically impacts versions of the Facets module ranging from 0.0.0 through 2.0.9 and from 3.0.0 through 3.0.0, indicating a widespread concern affecting multiple major version streams of the module.
The technical flaw stems from insufficient validation of user permissions during facet access requests, allowing authenticated and unauthenticated users to traverse the module's access control boundaries. This missing authorization check creates an avenue for attackers to force browse to restricted facet configurations and potentially access sensitive filtering data that should only be available to authorized personnel. The vulnerability operates at the application level, exploiting the absence of proper access control validation that should occur before serving facet data to users. This type of weakness aligns with CWE-285, which describes improper authorization scenarios where systems fail to properly enforce access control policies.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it can enable attackers to gather intelligence about the site's internal structure, content organization, and potentially sensitive data patterns. Forceful browsing attacks leveraging this vulnerability can reveal facet configurations that may expose underlying content hierarchies, user permissions, or business logic that should remain hidden from unauthorized access. Attackers can systematically test different facet URLs to discover and access restricted filtering options, potentially uncovering sensitive information about content relationships, user roles, or administrative configurations.
Security practitioners should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to the patched versions of the Drupal Facets module, specifically versions 2.0.10 and 3.0.1, which contain the necessary authorization checks. Organizations running affected versions should also consider implementing additional access controls at the web server level, such as restricting access to facet endpoints through .htaccess rules or firewall configurations. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques where attackers leverage missing authorization checks to gain access to restricted resources, making it particularly concerning for systems handling sensitive data or requiring strict access controls.
The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper authorization implementation in web applications, particularly in modules that handle user interface components and content filtering mechanisms. Drupal's security model relies heavily on proper access control enforcement, and failures in this area can quickly escalate to more serious security incidents. Organizations should conduct thorough security audits of their Drupal installations to identify other potential authorization gaps, as this vulnerability may indicate broader issues with access control implementation across the application stack. The affected module's role in providing dynamic filtering capabilities makes it a particularly attractive target for attackers seeking to understand site structure and content relationships.