CVE-2025-14779: Secret Type Management API DoS Vulnerability

CVE-2025-14779 Overview

CVE-2025-14779 is a broken access control flaw in the WSO2 Secret Type Management REST API. The API fails to enforce organizational boundaries during on-delete cascade operations. When an administrator deletes a secret type, the cascade logic removes all secrets tied to that type across every organization in the deployment. Exploitation can cause configuration failures, service interruptions, and denial-of-service conditions. The vulnerability requires delete permissions on the Secret Type Management REST API, which are granted only to administrators by default. WSO2 tracks the issue under advisory WSO2-2025-4597.

Critical Impact
A single administrative delete action can cascade across organizational boundaries, wiping secrets deployment-wide and causing service outages.

Affected Products

WSO2 products implementing the Secret Type Management REST API (refer to WSO2-2025-4597 for the full product and version matrix)
Deployments configured with multiple organizations sharing secret types
Environments granting delete permissions on the Secret Type Management REST API to non-default roles

Discovery Timeline

2026-08-06 - CVE-2025-14779 published to NVD
2026-08-06 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-14779

Vulnerability Analysis

The flaw resides in the delete handler of the Secret Type Management REST API. When a secret type is removed, the backend triggers an on-delete cascade that purges all secrets referencing that type. The cascade query does not filter by organization identifier. Every secret bound to the deleted type is removed regardless of the organization that owns it.

This behavior violates tenant isolation. In multi-organization WSO2 deployments, secret types are intended to be scoped resources. The missing organizational filter converts a per-tenant administrative action into a deployment-wide destructive operation. The classification maps to [CWE-281] Improper Preservation of Permissions.

Impact is limited to integrity and availability. No confidential data is disclosed. Successful abuse causes secrets to disappear from downstream services, breaking authentication chains, integrations, and configurations that depend on them.

Root Cause

The on-delete cascade logic omits organizational scope checks. The database or service-layer routine that removes dependent secrets executes against the full secret table rather than the caller's organization partition. Access control is enforced on the API entry point but not on the cascading data operation.

Attack Vector

An authenticated user with delete privileges on the Secret Type Management REST API submits a delete request for a secret type. The API accepts the request under the caller's organizational context. The cascade then removes secrets belonging to unrelated organizations. Because delete permission is limited to administrators by default, the attacker profile is a malicious or compromised administrative account, or an operator error. Network reachability to the management API is required.

No verified public exploit code is available. See the WSO2 Security Advisory WSO2-2025-4597 for vendor technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-14779

Indicators of Compromise

DELETE requests to Secret Type Management REST API endpoints followed by widespread secret lookup failures in unrelated organizations
Bulk secret not found errors in application logs immediately after an administrative API call
Unexpected authentication or integration failures across multiple tenants within a short time window

Detection Strategies

Audit WSO2 management API access logs for DELETE operations against secret type endpoints and correlate with the caller's organization
Compare secret counts per organization before and after administrative delete actions to identify cross-tenant impact
Alert on any secret type deletion event, since these are rare administrative operations in steady-state deployments

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward WSO2 audit logs and API access logs to a centralized SIEM for correlation across tenants
Track the rate of secret read failures per organization as a leading indicator of cascade damage
Baseline administrative API activity and flag deviations, particularly delete verbs against configuration APIs

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-14779

Immediate Actions Required

Review and restrict which roles hold delete permissions on the Secret Type Management REST API; keep it limited to a minimal administrator set
Apply the fix referenced in WSO2 advisory WSO2-2025-4597 as soon as the vendor patch is available for your product version
Back up secret stores before performing any secret type deletion in multi-organization deployments

Patch Information

Refer to the WSO2 Security Advisory WSO2-2025-4597 for the list of affected products, fixed versions, and patch application steps. Apply the fix in staging before production rollout.

Workarounds

Remove delete permissions on the Secret Type Management REST API from all roles except a break-glass administrator account until the patch is applied
Introduce a change-control procedure requiring peer approval before any secret type deletion in shared deployments
Restrict network access to the management API to trusted administrative networks or bastion hosts

bash

# Example: restrict delete verb on the Secret Type Management REST API at the reverse proxy
# nginx snippet - deny DELETE to /api/server/v1/secret-types except from admin subnet
location /api/server/v1/secret-types {
    limit_except GET POST PUT {
        allow 10.0.10.0/24;   # admin bastion subnet
        deny  all;
    }
    proxy_pass https://wso2-backend;
}