Director: Server-Side Request Forgery
CVE-2025-23172 is a high-severity server-side request forgery vulnerability in Director from Versa, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.2 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with administrator privileges, without any action from a user. Affected Director versions: 21.2.2 and earlier; 21.2.3 and earlier; 22.1.1 and earlier, and others listed below. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 1.19% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 68% of scored CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Check which version of Director you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
- Read the advisory on security-portal.versa-networks.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Versa | Director | 21.2.2 and earlier; 21.2.3 and earlier; 22.1.1 and earlier; 22.1.2 and earlier; 22.1.3 and earlier; 22.1.4 and earlier | Not stated |
| Versa-networks | Versa Director | 21.2.2; 21.2.3; 22.1.1; 22.1.2; 22.1.3; 22.1.4 | Not stated |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Privileges required
- HighAdministrator-level access is required first.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- HighData or code can be modified at will.
- Availability
- HighThe component can be taken down completely.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (hackerone.com).
Official description
The Versa Director SD-WAN orchestration platform includes a Webhook feature for sending notifications to external HTTP endpoints. However, the "Add Webhook" and "Test Webhook" functionalities can be abused by an authenticated user to send crafted HTTP requests to localhost. This can be leveraged to execute commands on behalf of the versa user, who has sudo privileges, potentially leading to privilege escalation or remote code execution. Exploitation Status: Versa Networks is not aware of any reported instance where this vulnerability was exploited. Proof of concept for this vulnerability has been disclosed by third party security researchers. Workarounds or Mitigation: There are no workarounds to disable the GUI option. Versa recommends that Director be upgraded to one of the remediated software versions.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Server-Side Request Forgery
The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the request is being sent to the expected destination.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- If there is a known list of applications, IP, hostname, and/or domains to which the product is allowed to communicate, then use allowlists to ensure that outgoing requests are restricted to these known entities. The allowlists could be in the application code or possibly enforced by firewalls or network segmentation.
- If the product is expected to be able to connect to arbitrary IP addresses or domains, consider using a denylist that includes private network addresses, internal domain names, etc. The denylist could be in the application code or possibly enforced by firewalls or network segmentation.
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Other references
- support.versa-networks.com/support/solutions/articles/23000024323-release-21-2-3Product
- support.versa-networks.com/support/solutions/articles/23000025680-release-22-1-2Product
- support.versa-networks.com/support/solutions/articles/23000026033-release-22-1-3Product
- support.versa-networks.com/support/solutions/articles/23000026708-release-22-1-4Product
Other vulnerabilities in Director
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.2 High severity
- 8.8 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
- 10.0 Critical severity
Recent Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerabilities
- 7.1 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
- 9.1 Critical severity
- 8.2 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
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