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Insufficiently Protected CredentialsWeakness · CWE-522

CVE-2025-54808

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Oxford Nanopore Technologies' MinKNOW software at or prior to version 24.11 stores authentication tokens in a file located in the system's temporary directory (/tmp) on the host machine. This directory is typically world-readable, allowing any local user or application to access the token. If the token is leaked (e.g., via malware infection or other local exploit), and remote access is enabled, it can be used to establish unauthorized remote connections to the sequencer. Remote access must be enabled for remote exploitation to succeed. This may occur either because the user has enabled remote access for legitimate operational reasons or because malware with elevated privileges (e.g., sudo access) enables it without user consent. This vulnerability can be chained with remote access capabilities to generate a developer token from a remote device. Developer tokens can be created with arbitrary expiration dates, enabling persistent access to the sequencer and bypassing standard authentication mechanisms.

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

MinKNOW software versions 24.11 and prior store authentication tokens in a world-readable file within /tmp, allowing any local user to access sensitive credentials. If remote access is enabled (whether intentionally or by malware with elevated privileges), the leaked token can be used to establish unauthorized remote connections and create persistent developer tokens with arbitrary expiration dates.

MitigationUpgrade MinKNOW to the latest version to patch the insecure token storage, disable remote access if not required, and revoke any potentially compromised tokens.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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. Confirm MinKNOW installation and version
    Run 'minknow --version' or check installed packages with 'dpkg -l | grep minknow' or 'rpm -qa | grep minknow'. Compare the installed version to 24.11 (any version 24.11 or lower is affected).
    Affected if MinKNOW version is 24.11 or lower, or the version cannot be determined but MinKNOW is installed.
  2. Locate authentication token files in /tmp
    Search /tmp for files that may contain MinKNOW authentication tokens: 'ls -la /tmp/*token*' or 'find /tmp -name "*minknow*" -type f 2>/dev/null'. Look for files with 'token', 'auth', 'credential', or 'session' in their names.
    Affected if Any MinKNOW-related authentication token files exist in /tmp.
  3. Verify file permissions are world-readable
    Run 'ls -la' on any found token files to inspect permissions. The vulnerability requires any local user to be able to read these files.
    Affected if The token file has permissions like '-rw-r--r--' (644) or similar world-readable settings (others have read permission).
  4. Check if remote access is enabled
    Look for MinKNOW remote access configuration files or settings. Check for XML config files in the MinKNOW installation directory or user config locations that enable remote/rpc access.
    Affected if Remote access functionality is enabled in MinKNOW configuration.

Your environment is affected if MinKNOW version 24.11 or lower is installed AND authentication token files exist in /tmp with world-readable permissions, especially if remote access is also enabled.

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 MinKNOW to the latest version to patch the insecure token storage, disable remote access if not required, and revoke any potentially compromised tokens.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

MinKNOW version 24.12 or later (any stable release newer than 24.11)

  1. 1. Identify the current MinKNOW software version installed on the system
  2. 2. Upgrade MinKNOW to the latest stable version available from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (version 24.12 or later, as versions after 24.11 contain the fix)
  3. 3. After upgrade, verify that authentication tokens are no longer stored in /tmp or other world-readable locations
  4. 4. If remote access was previously enabled, review and confirm only authorized remote access configurations are in place
  5. 5. Consider rotating any authentication tokens that may have been exposed while the vulnerability existed
Caveat Review release notes for any configuration or workflow changes between 24.11 and the target version

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2025-54808 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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