CVE-2025-57769
📋 TL;DR
FreshRSS versions 1.26.3 and below contain a UI redressing vulnerability where attackers can trick authenticated users into performing unintended actions via iframe manipulation. This can lead to privilege escalation by promoting users to admin roles or cross-site scripting (XSS) by injecting malicious JavaScript. Self-hosted FreshRSS instances with authenticated users are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- FreshRSS
📦 What is this software?
Freshrss by Freshrss
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers gain administrative privileges through user promotion, then execute arbitrary JavaScript leading to complete system compromise, data theft, or further attacks.
Likely Case
Authenticated users are tricked into promoting attackers to admin roles, enabling privilege escalation and limited XSS attacks within the FreshRSS interface.
If Mitigated
With proper content security policies and iframe restrictions, impact is limited to UI confusion without successful exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires social engineering to trick authenticated users; exploitation depends on iframe embedding capabilities.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.27.0
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/FreshRSS/FreshRSS/security/advisories/GHSA-wm5p-7pr7-c8rw
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Backup your FreshRSS installation and database. 2. Download FreshRSS 1.27.0 from GitHub releases. 3. Replace existing files with new version. 4. Clear browser cache for all users.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict iframe embedding
allImplement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent iframe embedding of FreshRSS pages.
Add to web server config: Content-Security-Policy: frame-ancestors 'self';
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable user registration and limit authenticated users to trusted individuals only.
- Implement strict CSP headers and monitor for suspicious iframe embedding attempts.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check FreshRSS version in admin interface or by examining the version.txt file in the installation directory.Check Version:
cat /path/to/freshrss/version.txtVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 1.27.0 or higher in admin interface; test iframe embedding attempts are blocked.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed authentication attempts followed by successful login and user role changes
- Unusual iframe referrer headers in access logs
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests with suspicious iframe-related headers
- Unexpected POST requests to user promotion endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="freshrss" (event="user_promoted" OR event="iframe_embed")