CVE-2025-42615
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows attackers to brute-force two-factor authentication (2FA) codes without rate limiting or account lockout. An attacker who has obtained valid credentials can submit unlimited OTP guesses, significantly increasing the risk of account takeover. This affects all users of Vulnerability-Lookup before version 2.18.0.
💻 Affected Systems
- Vulnerability-Lookup
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete account takeover of any user account where the attacker has obtained valid username/password credentials, leading to unauthorized access, data theft, or privilege escalation.
Likely Case
Successful brute-force attacks against accounts with weak OTP implementations (short codes, predictable tokens), resulting in unauthorized access to sensitive vulnerability data.
If Mitigated
Attackers can still attempt credential stuffing but will be blocked after 5 failed OTP attempts, making brute-force attacks impractical.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires valid username/password credentials first, but OTP brute-forcing is trivial once credentials are obtained.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 2.18.0
Vendor Advisory: https://vulnerability.circl.lu/vuln/gcve-1-2025-0033
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup current installation and data. 2. Update to Vulnerability-Lookup version 2.18.0 or later. 3. Restart the application service. 4. Verify the patch is applied by checking the version and testing OTP rate limiting.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement external rate limiting
allUse a web application firewall (WAF) or reverse proxy to enforce rate limiting on OTP submission endpoints.
# Example nginx rate limiting
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=otp:10m rate=5r/m;
location /2fa/verify {
limit_req zone=otp burst=5 nodelay;
}
Enable account lockout at authentication layer
allConfigure account lockout policies for failed login attempts to prevent credential harvesting.
# Configure in your authentication system
# Example: Lock account after 5 failed login attempts
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Monitor authentication logs for repeated 2FA failures and implement alerting for suspicious patterns.
- Require stronger OTP implementations (longer codes, TOTP instead of SMS) to increase brute-force difficulty.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test OTP verification endpoint by submitting more than 5 invalid OTP codes for a test account. If account is not locked, the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check the Vulnerability-Lookup version in the web interface or configuration files, or run: grep 'version' vulnerability_lookup_config.jsonVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, test OTP verification endpoint: submit 5 invalid OTP codes for a test account. Account should be locked on the 5th attempt.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed OTP attempts from same IP/user within short timeframes
- No account lockout events after repeated 2FA failures
- Successful login after many failed OTP attempts
Network Indicators:
- High volume of POST requests to /2fa/verify endpoint from single source
- Pattern of rapid OTP submission attempts
SIEM Query:
source="vulnerability-lookup.log" ("OTP verification failed" OR "2FA failed") | stats count by src_ip, user | where count > 5