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Application ExpressApplication · Oracle

CVE-2025-21557

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Vulnerability in Oracle Application Express (component: General). Supported versions that are affected are 23.2 and 24.1. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Oracle Application Express. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and while the vulnerability is in Oracle Application Express, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Oracle Application Express accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Oracle Application Express accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.4 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Vulnerability in Oracle Application Express allows low privileged attackers with network access via HTTP to compromise the application. Successful exploitation enables unauthorized read, insert, update, or delete access to a subset of APEX accessible data. The attack requires human interaction and may impact additional products due to scope change.

MitigationApply Oracle security patches for affected versions 23.2 and 24.1. Restrict network access to Application Express interfaces and implement additional authentication controls where feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Application ExpressApplication
Affected:= 23.2= 24.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Oracle Application Express is installed
    Connect to the Oracle database and query the APEX version: SELECT version_no FROM apex_version; or check if APEX is accessible via the /ords/apex* endpoints
    Affected if APEX is not installed, this CVE does not apply
  2. Identify the exact APEX version
    Run: SELECT version_no FROM apex_version; This returns the full version number (e.g., 23.2.0, 24.1.0)
    Affected if The version shown is exactly 23.2 or 24.1 (including any patch level suffixes like 23.2.0, 23.2.1, etc.)
  3. Verify network exposure of APEX interfaces
    Check if APEX endpoints (/ords/apex*, /apex*, /apex_admin) are accessible from the network. Review web server configuration, load balancer rules, or firewall policies that allow HTTP/HTTPS access to these paths
    Affected if APEX is network-accessible without additional authentication controls beyond standard Oracle authentication
  4. Confirm APEX is in use with standard configuration
    Verify APEX is configured with standard workspace/application setup. This vulnerability affects low privileged users with standard APEX access, so confirm there are workspaces and applications in the environment
    Affected if Standard APEX workspaces and applications exist and users have authenticated access to them

You are affected if APEX version is exactly 23.2 or 24.1, is network-accessible via HTTP, and has standard workspace access for low-privileged users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Oracle security patches for affected versions 23.2 and 24.1. Restrict network access to Application Express interfaces and implement additional authentication controls where feasible.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Oracle Application Express 24.2 or later

  1. 1. Back up the current Oracle Application Express installation and associated database
  2. 2. Download Oracle Application Express 24.2 or later from Oracle Technology Network
  3. 3. Review the Oracle APEX installation guide for upgrade instructions specific to your environment
  4. 4. Execute the upgrade following Oracle's documented procedures
  5. 5. Verify the installation and test that Application Express functions correctly
  6. 6. Confirm the CVE-2025-21557 fix is applied by checking the APEX version
Caveat Review Oracle APEX 24.2 release notes for any deprecated features or breaking changes before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Application Express Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-21557 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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