CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2025-34469NVD status: Analyzed

Cowrie: Server-Side Request Forgery

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2025-34469 is a high-severity server-side request forgery vulnerability in Cowrie, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists version 2.9.0 as the first without the flaw, so updating Cowrie to that release or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.68% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 53% of scored CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Update Cowrie to 2.9.0 or a later version.
  2. Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
  3. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
CowrieCowriebefore 2.9.02.9.0

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
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
NoneNo data is disclosed.
Integrity
NoneNothing can be modified.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. Scored by NVD.

Scoring systemScoreSeverityScored by
CVSS 4.06.9MediumCNA (vulncheck.com)
CVSS 3.17.5HighNVD

Official description

Cowrie versions prior to 2.9.0 contain a server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the emulated shell implementation of wget and curl. In the default emulated shell configuration, these command emulations perform real outbound HTTP requests to attacker-supplied destinations. Because no outbound request rate limiting was enforced, unauthenticated remote attackers could repeatedly invoke these commands to generate unbounded HTTP traffic toward arbitrary third-party targets, allowing the Cowrie honeypot to be abused as a denial-of-service amplification node and masking the attacker’s true source address behind the honeypot’s IP.

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.

More Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerabilities (CWE-918)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Advisories

Patches and release notes

Technical write-ups (may include proof of concept)

Recent Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerabilities

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