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Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2025-9121

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Pentaho Data Integration and Analytics Community Dashboard Editor plugin versions before 10.2.0.4, including 9.3.0.x and 8.3.x, deserialize untrusted JSON data without constraining the parser to approved classes and methods.

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 Community Dashboard Editor plugin in Pentaho Data Integration deserializes JSON data without restricting the parser to approved classes and methods (unsafe deserialization), allowing remote attackers to potentially instantiate arbitrary objects and achieve remote code execution.

MitigationUpgrade the Community Dashboard Editor plugin to version 10.2.0.4 or later which implements proper class restrictions on the JSON deserializer.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Identify Pentaho Data Integration installation
    Locate the Pentaho Data Integration directory (typically pentaho-server or data-integration folder). Check for the presence of the Community Dashboard Editor plugin in the plugins or system directories.
    Affected if Pentaho Data Integration is installed without the patched plugin version
  2. Determine Community Dashboard Editor plugin version
    Navigate to the plugin directory (commonly at pentaho-server/pentaho-solutions/system/cde or data-integration/plugins/pentaho-cdf-dd). Look for a version manifest, plugin.xml, or build.properties file that contains the plugin version number.
    Affected if The plugin version is lower than 10.2.0.4
  3. Check if plugin accepts external JSON input
    Inspect the CDE plugin configuration files (particularly cde-editor.xul or related XML configuration files in the plugin directory). Determine if the plugin exposes web endpoints or REST APIs that accept JSON submissions from users or external systems.
    Affected if The plugin has exposed web endpoints accepting JSON without additional access controls
  4. Verify deserialization configuration
    Review the plugin's configuration or properties files for JSON deserialization settings. Look for configuration related to JSON parsing, object deserialization, or class loading. Check if a class allowlist is configured.
    Affected if No class allowlist is configured for JSON deserialization, or the configuration explicitly allows unsafe deserialization

A user is affected if Pentaho Data Integration with Community Dashboard Editor plugin version lower than 10.2.0.4 is running and exposed to untrusted JSON input through web endpoints.

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 Community Dashboard Editor plugin to version 10.2.0.4 or later which implements proper class restrictions on the JSON deserializer.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

10.2.0.4

  1. 1. Identify the current version of the Pentaho Data Integration Community Dashboard Editor plugin installed in your environment.
  2. 2. Download the fixed version 10.2.0.4 of the Community Dashboard Editor plugin from the official Pentaho support portal (support.pentaho.com).
  3. 3. Create a complete backup of your current Pentaho configuration, including all plugin configurations and any custom dashboards.
  4. 4. Stop the Pentaho server/Business Analytics Platform services.
  5. 5. Replace the existing Community Dashboard Editor plugin files with the new version 10.2.0.4 files.
  6. 6. Verify file permissions are correctly set on the new plugin files.
  7. 7. Restart the Pentaho server/Business Analytics Platform services.
  8. 8. Validate that the Community Dashboard Editor plugin is functioning correctly and that existing dashboards load properly.

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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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-2025-9121 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
  • 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