VMware Spring Security: security vulnerability (CVE-2025-41248)
Published Sources: BSI, OSV, CVE.org
What is affected, what to do
The Spring Security annotation detection mechanism may not correctly resolve annotations on methods within type hierarchies with a parameterized super type with unbounded generics. This can be an issue when using @PreAuthorize and other method security annotations, resulting in an authorization bypass.
Update VMware Spring Security to version 6.4.11, VMware Spring Security to version 6.5.5.
- Affected
- VMware Spring Security
lt 6.4.x..6.4.11 - VMware Spring Security
lt 6.5.x..6.5.5
- VMware Spring Security
- Fixed in
- VMware Spring Security
6.4.11 - VMware Spring Security
6.5.5
- VMware Spring Security
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Metrics
7.5
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3
7.5
CVSS v3
Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: BSI, OSV, CVE.org
0.4 %
EPSS score
Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 38.9
Show all metrics
- Severity
- High
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 60.57 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 7.5 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 7.5
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 0.4 %
- Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 38.9
- High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
The Spring Security annotation detection mechanism may not correctly resolve annotations on methods within type hierarchies with a parameterized super type with unbounded generics. This can be an issue when using @PreAuthorize and other method security annotations, resulting in an authorization bypass. Your application may be affected by this if you are using Spring Security's @EnableMethodSecurity feature. You are not affected by this if you are not using @EnableMethodSecurity or if you do not use security annotations on methods in generic superclasses or generic interfaces. This CVE is published in conjunction with CVE-2025-41249 https://spring.io/security/cve-2025-41249 .
Source: BSI CSAF, BSI WID Portal, OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities), cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| VMware | Spring Security |
|
|
| Atlassian | Bitbucket |
|
|
| Atlassian | Confluence |
|
|
| Dell | NetWorker AUTHC |
|
|
| Dell | NetWorker File-Level Recovery |
|
|
| Dell | NetWorker Management Console |
|
|
| Dell | NetWorker Management Web UI |
|
|
| Dell | NetWorker REST API |
|
|
| Dell | NetWorker vCenter User Interface |
|
|
| Dell | Secure Connect Gateway |
|
|
| Dell | Secure Connect Gateway Appliance |
|
|
| HCL | Commerce |
|
|
| Hitachi | Ops Center Common Services |
|
|
| IBM | InfoSphere Information Server |
|
|
| Oracle | Financial Services Applications |
|
|
| Oracle | Fusion Middleware |
|
|
| Red Hat | Integration |
|
|
| VMware Tanzu | Spring Security |
|
|
| maven | org.springframework.security:spring-security-core |
|
|
Vendors and products
- Atlassian Atlassian Bitbucket Server
- Atlassian Atlassian Confluence
- Dell Networker Authc
- Dell Networker File-level Recovery
- Dell Networker Management Console
- Dell Networker Management Web UI
- Dell Networker Rest API
- Dell Networker Vcenter User Interface
- Dell Secure Connect Gateway
- Dell Secure Connect Gateway Appliance
- HCL Commerce
- Hitachi Hitachi Ops Center Common Services
References & sources
- NVD (NIST)vuln/detail/CVE-2025-41248advisory
- github.comspring-projects/spring-security/issues/17898web
- github.comspring-projects/spring-security/issues/17899web
- github.comspring-projects/spring-security/commit/d0f93fa6d8338149943ae640…web
- github.comspring-projects/spring-security/commit/e5694ac7b5e4394b920c6cab…web
- github.comspring-projects/spring-securitypackage
- github.comspring-projects/spring-security/releases/tag/6.4.10web
- github.comspring-projects/spring-security/releases/tag/6.5.4web
- spring.iosecurity/cve-2025-41248web
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2025-41248"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2025-41248.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2025-41248 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>