CVE-2025-68932
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in FreshRSS allows attackers to predict authentication tokens due to weak random number generation, enabling account takeover through session hijacking. All FreshRSS instances prior to version 1.28.0 are affected, particularly those with 'keep me logged in' functionality enabled. Self-hosted RSS aggregator users are at risk of unauthorized access to their accounts.
💻 Affected Systems
- FreshRSS
📦 What is this software?
Freshrss by Freshrss
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete account takeover with persistent unauthorized access, data theft, and potential privilege escalation if admin accounts are compromised.
Likely Case
Unauthorized access to user accounts leading to data exposure, RSS feed manipulation, and potential lateral movement within the application.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper network segmentation and monitoring, though authentication bypass remains possible.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires understanding of weak RNG prediction but doesn't require authentication to attempt token prediction.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.28.0
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/FreshRSS/FreshRSS/security/advisories/GHSA-j9wc-gwc6-p786
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your FreshRSS installation and database. 2. Download FreshRSS 1.28.0 or later from the official repository. 3. Replace the existing installation with the new version. 4. Restart your web server. 5. Verify the update by checking the version in the FreshRSS interface.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Remember-Me Functionality
allTemporarily disable the 'keep me logged in' feature to prevent token generation
Edit FreshRSS configuration to disable remember-me tokens
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network-level controls to restrict access to FreshRSS instances
- Enable detailed logging and monitoring for suspicious authentication attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check FreshRSS version in the web interface or by examining the installation directory for version filesCheck Version:
Check the version displayed in the FreshRSS web interface footer or admin panelVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 1.28.0 or higher in the FreshRSS interface or via version check files📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed authentication attempts followed by successful login with predicted tokens
- Unusual login patterns from unexpected locations
Network Indicators:
- Unusual authentication request patterns to FreshRSS endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="freshrss" AND (event="authentication" OR event="login") | stats count by user, src_ip | where count > threshold