CVE-2023-25559 | System account impersonation in DataHub

DataHub is an open-source metadata platform. When not using authentication for the metadata service, which is the default configuration, the Metadata service (GMS) will use the X-DataHub-Actor HTTP header to infer the user the frontend is sending the request on behalf of. When the backends retrieves the header, its name is retrieved in a case-insensitive way. This case differential can be abused by an attacker to smuggle an X-DataHub-Actor header with different casing (eg: X-DATAHUB-ACTOR). This issue may lead to an authorization bypass by allowing any user to impersonate the system user account and perform any actions on its behalf. This vulnerability was discovered and reported by the GitHub Security lab and is tracked as GHSL-2022-079.

Published: 2023-02-11 Last update: 2025-12-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-25559 is rated Moderate Risk (47.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.20%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-25559

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-25 0.28% 0.20% -0.07%
2 2026-03-16 0.22% 0.28% +0.05%
3 2026-03-04 — 0.22% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-25559

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 5.8 [email protected]
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 5.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-25559

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-25559

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
datahub datahub < 0.8.45 cpe:2.3:a:datahub:datahub:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-25559

cvelogic Threat Intelligence