CVE-2025-15005
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-15005 is a security vulnerability in CouchCMS up to version 2.4 where the reCAPTCHA handler uses hard-coded cryptographic keys in a configuration example file. This allows attackers to potentially bypass reCAPTCHA protection remotely, though exploitation requires high complexity. All CouchCMS installations up to version 2.4 using the default reCAPTCHA configuration are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- CouchCMS
📦 What is this software?
Couchcms by Couchcms
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers bypass reCAPTCHA protection completely, enabling automated attacks like spam submissions, credential stuffing, or brute force attacks on protected forms.
Likely Case
Limited impact due to high exploitation complexity; attackers may bypass reCAPTCHA on specific forms but not gain system access.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper network segmentation and monitoring are in place, as this doesn't directly lead to system compromise.
🎯 Exploit Status
Proof of concept has been released publicly, but exploitation requires specific conditions and understanding of the system.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not specified
Vendor Advisory: Not available
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Check for vendor patch or update to version 2.5+ when available. 2. Manually replace hard-coded keys in couch/config.example.php with unique, secure keys. 3. Ensure no production systems use example configuration files.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Replace Hard-coded Keys
allManually replace the hard-coded K_RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY and K_RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY values with unique, secure keys from Google reCAPTCHA admin console.
Edit couch/config.example.php and replace the vulnerable key values
Disable Vulnerable Configuration
linuxRemove or rename the config.example.php file to prevent accidental use, and ensure production uses a properly configured custom config.php.
mv couch/config.example.php couch/config.example.php.bak
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network-level controls to limit access to forms using reCAPTCHA
- Monitor for unusual form submission patterns that might indicate reCAPTCHA bypass
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Inspect couch/config.example.php for hard-coded K_RECAPTCHA_SITE_KEY and K_RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEY values that match the publicly known vulnerable keys.Check Version:
Check CouchCMS version in admin panel or review installation files for version indicatorsVerify Fix Applied:
Verify that config.example.php either uses unique keys or has been removed/renamed, and that production config.php uses properly configured reCAPTCHA keys.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual volume of form submissions bypassing rate limits
- Failed reCAPTCHA validations from known vulnerable key patterns
Network Indicators:
- Increased traffic to forms protected by reCAPTCHA
- Patterns of automated form submissions
SIEM Query:
Search for form submission events with reCAPTCHA response values matching known vulnerable keys