CVE-2025-65998 | Apache Syncope: Default AES key used for internal password encryption

Apache Syncope can be configured to store the user password values in the internal database with AES encryption, though this is not the default option. When AES is configured, the default key value, hard-coded in the source code, is always used. This allows a malicious attacker, once obtained access to the internal database content, to reconstruct the original cleartext password values. This is not affecting encrypted plain attributes, whose values are also stored using AES encryption. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.0.15 / 4.0.3, which fix this issue.

Published: 2025-11-24 Last update: 2025-11-26 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-65998 is rated Low Risk (35.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2025-65998

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 2026-05-04 0.05% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2026-04-22 0.05% 0.05% -0.00%
3 2025-11-27 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-65998

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-65998

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-65998

GHSA-jqg8-m35q-jh7j · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Apache Syncope's AES encryption stores hard-coded passwords in internal database

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-65998

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache syncope >= 2.1.0, <= 2.1.14 cpe:2.3:a:apache:syncope:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache syncope >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.15 cpe:2.3:a:apache:syncope:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache syncope >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:syncope:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-65998

cvelogic Threat Intelligence