CVE-2025-54373
📋 TL;DR
OpenEMR versions before 7.0.4 have an authorization bypass vulnerability where users without high-sensitivity privileges can view and modify clinical notes and care plans marked as high-sensitivity. This affects all OpenEMR installations with high-sensitivity clinical data and users with standard privileges.
💻 Affected Systems
- OpenEMR
📦 What is this software?
Openemr by Open Emr
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Unauthorized users could read or alter sensitive medical records, potentially leading to privacy violations, medical errors, or blackmail.
Likely Case
Internal users with standard access could accidentally or intentionally view sensitive patient information they shouldn't have access to.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, unauthorized access would be detected and prevented before sensitive data is compromised.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires authenticated user access but no special privileges. Exploitation is straightforward once authenticated.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 7.0.4
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/openemr/openemr/security/advisories/GHSA-739g-6m63-p7fr
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Backup your OpenEMR installation and database. 2. Download OpenEMR 7.0.4 from the official repository. 3. Replace existing files with the patched version. 4. Run any database update scripts if required. 5. Verify the fix by testing high-sensitivity access controls.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable High-Sensitivity Feature
allTemporarily disable the high-sensitivity feature for clinical notes and care plans until patched.
# Edit OpenEMR configuration to remove high-sensitivity options
# Modify access control settings to restrict all users from sensitive data
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls and audit logging for all clinical data access
- Segregate high-sensitivity data to separate systems with additional authentication requirements
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Test if a standard user account can access clinical notes or care plans marked with Sensitivity=high. If accessible, the system is vulnerable.Check Version:
Check the OpenEMR version in the application interface or configuration files.Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, verify that standard users cannot view or modify high-sensitivity clinical notes and care plans.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unauthorized access attempts to high-sensitivity clinical data
- User sessions accessing sensitive records without proper privileges
Network Indicators:
- Unusual patterns of data access to clinical endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="openemr_logs" AND (event="clinical_note_access" OR event="care_plan_access") AND sensitivity="high" AND user_privilege!="high"