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Improper AuthenticationWeakness · CWE-287

CVE-2025-22232

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Spring Cloud Config Server may not use Vault token sent by clients using a X-CONFIG-TOKEN header when making requests to Vault. Your application may be affected by this if the following are true: * You have Spring Vault on the classpath of your Spring Cloud Config Server and * You are using the X-CONFIG-TOKEN header to send a Vault token to the Spring Cloud Config Server for the Config Server to use when making requests to Vault and * You are using the default Spring Vault SessionManager implementation LifecycleAwareSessionManager or a SessionManager implementation that persists the Vault token such as SimpleSessionManager. In this case the SessionManager persists the first token it retrieves and will continue to use that token even if client requests to the Spring Cloud Config Server include a X-CONFIG-TOKEN header with a different value. Affected Spring Products and Versions Spring Cloud Config: * 2.2.1.RELEASE - 4.2.1 Mitigation Users of affected versions should upgrade to the corresponding fixed version. Affected version(s)Fix versionAvailability4.2.x4.2.2OSS4.1.x4.1.6OSS4.0.x4.0.10Commercial3.1.x3.1.10Commercial3.0.x4.1.6OSS2.2.x4.1.6OSS NOTE: Spring Cloud Config 3.0.x and 2.2.x are no longer under open source or commercial support. Users of these versions are encouraged to upgrade to a supported version. No other mitigation steps are necessary.

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

In Spring Cloud Config Server, when clients send Vault tokens via the X-CONFIG-TOKEN header, the SessionManager (either the default LifecycleAwareSessionManager or SimpleSessionManager) caches the first token it receives and continues using that cached token for all subsequent requests, ignoring any new X-CONFIG-TOKEN headers from clients. This causes authentication failures or unauthorized access to the wrong Vault secrets.

MitigationUpgrade Spring Cloud Config Server to version 4.2.2, 4.1.6, 4.0.10, or a supported version as listed in the fixed version table. No other configuration changes are required.

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

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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. Identify Spring Cloud Config Server installation
    Locate the Spring Cloud Config Server JAR file or running process. Check pom.xml, build.gradle, or container metadata for the spring-cloud-config-server dependency.
    Affected if Spring Cloud Config Server is present in the environment
  2. Determine the installed version
    Run 'java -jar <config-server.jar> --version' or inspect the JAR manifest/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF for the Spring Cloud Config version. Check pom.xml or dependency management for the exact version number.
    Affected if The version is earlier than 4.2.2, 4.1.6, or 4.0.10 (or does not appear in the fixed version table)
  3. Verify Vault backend is configured
    Inspect application.yml or application.properties for 'spring.config.import' or 'spring.cloud.config.server.vault' configuration. Look for vault-specific settings indicating the server uses Vault as a backend.
    Affected if Vault backend is configured and the server retrieves secrets from Vault
  4. Confirm X-CONFIG-TOKEN header usage
    Review client configurations or API Gateway settings to determine if clients send the X-CONFIG-TOKEN header to Spring Cloud Config Server for Vault authentication.
    Affected if Clients are passing Vault tokens via the X-CONFIG-TOKEN header to the config server

The environment is affected if Spring Cloud Config Server version is below the fixed versions (4.2.2, 4.1.6, or 4.0.10), Vault backend is configured, and clients send X-CONFIG-TOKEN headers, causing token caching behavior.

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

Upgrade Spring Cloud Config Server to version 4.2.2, 4.1.6, 4.0.10, or a supported version as listed in the fixed version table. No other configuration changes are required.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to 4.2.2 (for 4.2.x), 4.1.6 (for 4.1.x, 3.0.x, or 2.2.x), 4.0.10 (for 4.0.x), or 3.1.10 (for 3.1.x)

  1. Identify the current version of Spring Cloud Config Server in use (check pom.xml, build.gradle, or dependency management)
  2. Determine which version branch is currently being used (e.g., 4.2.x, 4.1.x, 4.0.x, 3.1.x, 3.0.x, or 2.2.x)
  3. Upgrade Spring Cloud Config Server to the corresponding fixed version: 4.2.2, 4.1.6, 4.0.10, 3.1.10, or 4.1.6 (for 3.0.x and 2.2.x branches)
  4. Update the version in pom.xml or build.gradle accordingly
  5. Rebuild and redeploy the application
  6. Verify that X-CONFIG-TOKEN header tokens are now properly used for each client request
Caveat Review release notes for the target version as minor/major upgrades may include breaking changes; note that 3.0.x and 2.2.x are end-of-life and users should migrate to supported branches

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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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-2025-22232 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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