CVE-2025-54373 Overview
OpenEMR, a widely-used open source electronic health records (EHR) and medical practice management application, contains a sensitive data exposure vulnerability in versions prior to 7.0.4. This security flaw allows unauthorized users to view and modify Clinical Notes and Care Plan data in encounters marked with Sensitivity=high, even when those users lack the required Sensitivities=high privilege. This vulnerability represents a significant breach of access control mechanisms in healthcare software where patient data confidentiality is paramount.
Critical Impact
Unauthorized access to sensitive patient medical records including Clinical Notes and Care Plan data, with the ability to both view and modify protected health information.
Affected Products
- OpenEMR versions prior to 7.0.4
- OpenEMR installations with high-sensitivity encounters configured
- Healthcare organizations using OpenEMR for electronic health records management
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-01-28 - CVE CVE-2025-54373 published to NVD
- 2026-01-29 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-54373
Vulnerability Analysis
This vulnerability falls under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor), representing a critical access control failure in healthcare software. The flaw exists in OpenEMR's privilege enforcement mechanism for handling encounters designated with high sensitivity levels.
In OpenEMR, administrators can mark certain patient encounters as sensitive, which should restrict access to only those users with elevated sensitivity privileges. However, the vulnerability allows users without the Sensitivities=high privilege to bypass this protection and gain full access to Clinical Notes and Care Plan sections of high-sensitivity encounters.
The attack requires network access and authenticated low-privilege credentials, making it exploitable by any authenticated user within the system. This is particularly concerning in healthcare environments where role-based access control is essential for HIPAA compliance and patient privacy protection.
Root Cause
The root cause of this vulnerability is improper access control validation in OpenEMR's encounter handling code. The application fails to properly verify user privileges when serving requests for Clinical Notes and Care Plan data associated with high-sensitivity encounters. The privilege check that should enforce the Sensitivities=high requirement is either missing or incorrectly implemented, allowing standard authenticated users to access restricted medical records.
Attack Vector
The vulnerability is exploitable over the network by authenticated users with low privileges. An attacker with basic user credentials can access the Clinical Notes and Care Plan sections of encounters marked as high sensitivity without having the corresponding Sensitivities=high privilege assigned to their account.
The attack flow involves:
- An attacker authenticates to the OpenEMR application with a low-privilege user account
- The attacker navigates to or directly requests Clinical Notes or Care Plan data for an encounter marked with Sensitivity=high
- Due to the access control flaw, the application serves the protected data without verifying the user's sensitivity privilege level
- The attacker can view and potentially modify sensitive patient medical information
The vulnerability allows both read and write access to protected records, enabling data exfiltration as well as unauthorized modifications to clinical documentation. For detailed technical information, refer to the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-739g-6m63-p7fr.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-54373
Indicators of Compromise
- Unusual access patterns to high-sensitivity encounters by users without appropriate privilege levels
- Audit log entries showing users accessing Clinical Notes or Care Plan data for encounters they shouldn't have access to
- Modifications to sensitive encounter records by unauthorized user accounts
- Elevated query volume against patient encounter tables from low-privilege accounts
Detection Strategies
- Implement audit logging to track all access to encounters marked with high sensitivity flags
- Monitor for users accessing sensitive records without the Sensitivities=high privilege in their role configuration
- Review OpenEMR access logs for anomalous patterns in Clinical Notes and Care Plan access
- Deploy database activity monitoring to detect unauthorized queries against sensitive encounter data
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable comprehensive audit logging in OpenEMR for all encounter access events
- Configure alerts for access to high-sensitivity records by users lacking appropriate privileges
- Regularly review user privilege assignments to ensure principle of least privilege
- Implement SentinelOne Singularity Platform for real-time endpoint monitoring and threat detection on servers hosting OpenEMR
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-54373
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade OpenEMR to version 7.0.4 or later immediately to remediate this vulnerability
- Audit all access logs to determine if sensitive patient data has been improperly accessed
- Review all user accounts to verify appropriate sensitivity privilege assignments
- Consider temporarily restricting access to the OpenEMR application until patching is complete
Patch Information
OpenEMR has released version 7.0.4 which fixes this sensitive data exposure vulnerability. The fix is available in commit aef3d1c85d9ff2f28d3d361d2818aee79b6dcd33. Organizations should upgrade to this version immediately to protect sensitive patient health information.
Additional resources:
Workarounds
- Restrict network access to OpenEMR to only trusted internal networks until patching is complete
- Implement additional authentication requirements for accessing sensitive encounter data
- Review and limit user accounts with access to the OpenEMR system to minimize exposure
- Deploy web application firewall rules to monitor and filter suspicious requests to encounter endpoints
# Verify OpenEMR version after upgrade
grep -r "v7.0.4" /var/www/openemr/version.php
# Review user privileges for sensitivity access
mysql -u openemr_user -p openemr -e "SELECT username, authorized FROM users WHERE authorized > 0;"
# Check audit logs for unauthorized access patterns
tail -f /var/log/openemr/audit.log | grep -i "sensitivity"
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
