CVE-2025-27696
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows authenticated users with read-only permissions in Apache Superset to take ownership of dashboards, charts, or datasets. This affects all Apache Superset deployments through version 4.1.1. Attackers can modify or delete critical business intelligence assets they should only be able to view.
💻 Affected Systems
- Apache Superset
📦 What is this software?
Superset by Apache
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Malicious insider or compromised account with read access could take over all dashboards, charts, and datasets, then delete or modify them to disrupt business operations, inject malicious content, or exfiltrate sensitive data.
Likely Case
Privilege escalation where users with limited permissions gain unauthorized write/delete capabilities on BI assets, potentially causing data integrity issues or service disruption.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to unauthorized modifications of specific assets that can be detected and rolled back.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires authenticated user with any permissions. Exploitation is straightforward once authenticated.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.1.2 or above
Vendor Advisory: https://lists.apache.org/thread/k2od03bxnxs6vcp80sr03ywcxl194413
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your Superset database and configuration. 2. Stop the Superset service. 3. Upgrade to version 4.1.2 or later using pip: 'pip install --upgrade apache-superset==4.1.2'. 4. Run database migrations: 'superset db upgrade'. 5. Restart the Superset service.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict user permissions
allTemporarily reduce all user permissions to absolute minimum required for their role while planning upgrade.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate Superset instances from untrusted networks
- Enable detailed audit logging for all dashboard/chart/dataset ownership changes and review logs daily
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Superset version: if version is 4.1.1 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
superset versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 4.1.2 or later and test that read-only users cannot change ownership of assets.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected ownership changes of dashboards, charts, or datasets
- Users with read permissions performing write operations
Network Indicators:
- Unusual API calls to ownership modification endpoints from low-privilege accounts
SIEM Query:
source="superset" AND (event="change_ownership" OR event="update_permissions") AND user_role="read_only"