dbcve.org
Incorrect AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-863

CVE-2025-27822

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-03-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
An issue was discovered in the Masquerade module before 1.x-1.0.1 for Backdrop CMS. It allows people to temporarily switch to another user account. The module provides a "Masquerade as admin" permission to restrict people (who can masquerade) from switching to an account with administrative privileges. This permission is not always honored and may allow non-administrative users to masquerade as an administrator. This vulnerability is mitigated by the fact that an attacker must have a role with the "Masquerade as user" permission.

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

The Backdrop CMS Masquerade module before version 1.x-1.0.1 has a flawed permission check that fails to consistently enforce the 'Masquerade as admin' restriction. Users with 'Masquerade as user' permission can potentially bypass this safeguard and masquerade as administrative accounts, achieving unauthorized privilege escalation.

MitigationUpgrade the Masquerade module to version 1.x-1.0.1 or later. Audit all user roles granted 'Masquerade as user' permissions to ensure only trusted accounts have this capability.

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

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

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 Masquerade module version
    Navigate to Administration > Appearance (or Modules) > Masquerade module details, or inspect the file /modules/masquerade/masquerade.info for the 'version' line
    Affected if Version exists and is lower than 1.x-1.0.1, or the file is missing entirely (module not installed)
  2. Verify Masquerade module is enabled
    Check the Modules admin page (admin/modules) to confirm the Masquerade module is checked/enabled, or query the system table where name='masquerade' and status=1
    Affected if Module is enabled and version is below 1.x-1.0.1
  3. Confirm 'Masquerade as user' permission exists
    Go to Administration > People > Permissions and locate the 'Masquerade' section; verify if any role has 'Masquerade as user' permission granted
    Affected if At least one non-admin role has the 'Masquerade as user' permission enabled (this is the permission that can be exploited)
  4. Identify roles with masquerade permissions
    In Administration > People > Permissions, document all roles granted 'Masquerade as user' or 'Masquerade as admin' permissions; cross-reference with Administration > People > Roles
    Affected if Roles with 'Masquerade as user' include any role that is not already a trusted administrator role, indicating potential for privilege escalation

You are affected if the Masquerade module is enabled and its version is below 1.x-1.0.1 AND any non-administrative role has been granted the 'Masquerade as user' permission.

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 the Masquerade module to version 1.x-1.0.1 or later. Audit all user roles granted 'Masquerade as user' permissions to ensure only trusted accounts have this capability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Masquerade module version 1.x-1.0.1 for Backdrop CMS

  1. Backup your Backdrop CMS database and files before making any changes
  2. Navigate to the Backdrop CMS administration panel at /admin
  3. Go to Extend (or Modules) section at /admin/modules
  4. Locate the Masquerade module in the list
  5. Check for available updates or install version 1.x-1.0.1 of the Masquerade module
  6. Alternatively, download Masquerade 1.x-1.0.1 from the Backdrop CMS modules repository and replace the existing module files in /modules/masquerade
  7. Run database updates if prompted after upgrading the module
  8. Verify the fix by testing that the 'Masquerade as admin' permission is now properly enforced
Caveat Review any module configuration changes between your current version and 1.0.1 before upgrading

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-27822 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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