CVE-2025-64717
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 · uneditedZITADEL is an open source identity management platform. Starting in version 2.50.0 and prior to versions 2.71.19, 3.4.4, and 4.6.6, a vulnerability in ZITADEL's federation process allowed auto-linking users from external identity providers to existing users in ZITADEL even if the corresponding IdP was not active or if the organization did not allow federated authentication. This vulnerability stems from the platform's failure to correctly check or enforce an organization's specific security settings during the authentication flow. An Organization Administrator can explicitly disable an IdP or disallow federation, but this setting was not being honored during the auto-linking process. This allowed an unauthenticated attacker to initiate a login using an IdP that should have been disabled for that organization. The platform would incorrectly validate the login and, based on a matching criteria, link the attacker's external identity to an existing internal user account. This may result in a full Account Takeover, bypassing the organization's mandated security controls. Note that accounts with MFA enabled can not be taken over by this attack. Also note that only IdPs create on an instance level would allow this to work. IdPs registered on another organization would always be denied in the (auto-)linking process. Versions 4.6.6, 3.4.4, and 2.71.19 resolve the issue by correctly validating the organization's login policy before auto-linking an external user. No known workarounds are available aside from upgrading.
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 confidenceZITADEL's federation auto-linking feature failed to validate organization-level security policies during authentication, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to link an external IdP identity to an existing internal user account even when the IdP was disabled or federation was disallowed for that organization, resulting in potential account takeover.
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>= 2.50.0, < 2.71.19>= 3.0.0, < 3.4.4>= 4.0.0, < 4.6.6CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify installed ZITADEL versionCheck the version of your running ZITADEL instance through the admin console, CLI tool (zitadel version), or API endpoint. Compare against the affected ranges: 2.50.0 to 2.71.18, 3.0.0 to 3.4.3, or 4.0.0 to 4.6.5.Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected ranges.
-
Verify IdP federation configurationReview your ZITADEL configuration to determine if any external Identity Providers (IdPs) or SAML/OIDC federation are configured for any organization. Check through admin console IdP settings or API.Affected if Any IdP or federation configuration exists in the system.
-
Inspect organization login policiesExamine the login and security policies defined for your organizations, specifically looking for settings that control external IdP authentication and federation behavior. Look for fields related to 'allow federation' or IdP enablement.Affected if Organization policies exist that attempt to restrict or disable federation/IdP authentication.
-
Confirm auto-linking feature statusDetermine whether the federation auto-linking feature is enabled in your ZITADEL instance. This feature automatically links external IdP identities to existing internal user accounts based on email or other attributes.Affected if Auto-linking is enabled and IdP federation is configured.
You are affected if your ZITADEL version is within the vulnerable ranges AND you have IdP/federation configured with auto-linking enabled, regardless of organization-level policy settings intended to restrict it.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped2.71.193.4.44.6.6
Upgrade ZITADEL to version 2.71.19, 3.4.4, or 4.6.6 to receive the patch that enforces organization login policy validation before auto-linking external users.
Upgrade to Zitadel version 4.6.6 (if on v4+), 3.4.4 (if on v3), or 2.71.19 (if on v2)
- Identify your current Zitadel version by checking the instance or running `zitadel version`
- Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on your current version: if >= 4.0.0 upgrade to 4.6.6, if >= 3.0.0 upgrade to 3.4.4, if >= 2.50.0 upgrade to 2.71.19
- Review the Zitadel release notes for the target version to understand changes and potential migration requirements
- Backup your Zitadel database before performing the upgrade
- Upgrade Zitadel to the target fixed version (4.6.6, 3.4.4, or 2.71.19 depending on your branch)
- After upgrade, verify that the instance is operational and test IdP functionality
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-64717 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-64717 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data