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Hard-coded CredentialsWeakness · CWE-798

CVE-2025-48413

HIGH · 7.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
82/100
Remediation priority · High
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
The `/etc/passwd` and `/etc/shadow` files reveal hard-coded password hashes for the operating system "root" user. The credentials are shipped with the update files. There is no option for deleting or changing their passwords for an enduser. An attacker can use the credentials to log into the device. Authentication can be performed via SSH backdoor or likely via physical access (UART shell).

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 firmware contains hard-coded password hashes for the root user stored in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files that are shipped with device update files. These credentials provide root-level access to the device via an SSH backdoor or physical UART shell, with no mechanism for end-users to change or remove these passwords.

MitigationApply vendor-provided firmware update to remove hard-coded credentials; if unavailable, isolate device network access and disable SSH access until patch is available.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Extract and inspect firmware files
    Obtain the device firmware update file and extract its contents (using binwalk, firmware-mod-kit, or similar tools). Navigate to the /etc directory and examine the passwd and shadow files.
    Affected if The /etc/passwd file contains a root user entry with a password hash, or the /etc/shadow file contains a root password hash entry.
  2. Identify hard-coded password hashes in passwd/shadow
    Examine the extracted /etc/shadow file for root:$...$ entries (password hash fields that are not empty or '*' which would indicate no password). Compare the hash format to standard password hash algorithms.
    Affected if The root user entry in /etc/shadow contains a non-empty password hash that remains constant across firmware versions.
  3. Verify if SSH daemon is enabled
    Check the firmware's init scripts, rc.d directories, or configuration files for SSH service enablement. Look for dropbear, openssh, or similar SSH server configurations that start at boot.
    Affected if SSH daemon is configured to start automatically and accepts the hard-coded root credentials for authentication.
  4. Check for UART shell access availability
    Examine the device hardware or firmware for UART pinout documentation, or check if the firmware's init scripts automatically launch a shell on serial/USB serial interfaces without authentication.
    Affected if A shell prompt is accessible via UART/serial connection without requiring user-configured credentials.
  5. Compare against vendor firmware version
    If vendor has published patched firmware versions, identify the current running firmware version via /etc/version, /etc/os-release, or via bootloader/boot messages, and compare against the fixed version number.
    Affected if The running firmware version matches or predates the vulnerable version range identified by the vendor.

A device is affected if its firmware contains hard-coded root password hashes in /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow files and has SSH or UART shell access enabled using those credentials.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-provided firmware update to remove hard-coded credentials; if unavailable, isolate device network access and disable SSH access until patch is available.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
19.0 hours of engineering $3,380
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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-2025-48413 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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