CVE-2025-31478 | Zulip Authentication Backend Configuration Bypass

Zulip is an open-source team collaboration tool. Zulip supports a configuration where account creation is limited solely by being able to authenticate with a single-sign on authentication backend, meaning the organization places no restrictions on email address domains or invitations being required to join, but has disabled the EmailAuthBackend that is used for email/password authentication. A bug in the Zulip server means that it is possible to create an account in such organizations, without having an account with the configured SSO authentication backend. This issue is patched in version 10.2. A workaround includes requiring invitations to join the organization prevents the vulnerability from being accessed.

Published: 2025-04-16 Last update: 2026-01-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-31478 is rated Moderate Risk (56/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.51%). Mandatory action: 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-2025-31478

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 2026-06-03 0.67% 0.51% -0.16%
2 2026-05-26 0.56% 0.67% +0.11%
3 2026-05-25 0.56%

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-31478

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:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 4.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-31478

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-31478

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
zulip zulip_server < 10.2 cpe:2.3:a:zulip:zulip_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-31478

cvelogic Threat Intelligence