CVE-2025-55148: Ivanti Connect Secure Auth Bypass Flaw

CVE-2025-55148 Overview

CVE-2025-55148 is a missing authorization vulnerability [CWE-862] affecting multiple Ivanti secure access products. The flaw allows a remote authenticated attacker holding read-only administrator privileges to configure restricted settings that should be reserved for higher-privileged roles. Affected products include Ivanti Connect Secure before 22.7R2.9 or 22.8R2, Ivanti Policy Secure before 22.7R1.6, Ivanti ZTA Gateway before 2.8R2.3-723, and Ivanti Neurons for Secure Access before 22.8R1.4. Ivanti deployed a fix for Neurons for Secure Access on 02-Aug-2025. The vulnerability was published to the NVD on 2025-09-09.

Critical Impact
A read-only administrator can bypass role-based access controls to modify restricted configuration settings on Ivanti gateways, undermining segregation of duties and integrity of policy enforcement.

Affected Products

Ivanti Connect Secure before 22.7R2.9 and 22.8R2
Ivanti Policy Secure before 22.7R1.6
Ivanti ZTA Gateway before 2.8R2.3-723 and Ivanti Neurons for Secure Access before 22.8R1.4

Discovery Timeline

2025-08-02 - Fix deployed to Ivanti Neurons for Secure Access
2025-09-09 - CVE-2025-55148 published to NVD
2025-09-24 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-55148

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from a missing authorization check [CWE-862] in the administrative interface of Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, ZTA Gateway, and Neurons for Secure Access. The affected products grant read-only administrators the ability to invoke configuration endpoints that should require full administrator privileges. The server-side handlers do not validate whether the authenticated role is permitted to perform privileged write operations on restricted settings.

This flaw breaks the boundary between read-only and full administrator roles. Organizations that rely on read-only accounts for auditors, third-party operators, or monitoring tools lose assurance that those accounts cannot alter device state. An attacker abusing this access can change settings that influence VPN access policies, authentication flows, or gateway behavior on systems exposed at the network perimeter.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper enforcement of role-based access control on configuration endpoints. Authorization decisions appear to rely on the presence of an authenticated administrative session rather than verifying that the session's role has write permission for the requested setting.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires a remote, network-reachable connection to the administrative interface and valid credentials for a read-only administrator account. The attacker sends configuration requests directly to endpoints that perform privileged actions. Because the server omits the role check, the operation succeeds despite the limited privilege level of the caller. No user interaction is required beyond the attacker's authenticated session.

No public proof-of-concept exploit code has been released, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog at this time.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-55148

Indicators of Compromise

Configuration changes on Ivanti gateways correlated with sessions belonging to read-only administrator accounts
Administrative API calls to restricted configuration endpoints originating from accounts that should only perform read operations
Unexpected modifications to authentication, policy, or gateway settings outside standard change windows

Detection Strategies

Review audit logs on Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, ZTA Gateway, and Neurons for Secure Access for write operations performed by read-only accounts
Correlate administrative session activity with the role of the authenticated user and alert on privilege/action mismatches
Compare current device configuration against approved baselines to identify unauthorized changes

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward Ivanti administrative and audit logs to a centralized SIEM for retention and correlation
Alert on any successful configuration change initiated by an account designated as read-only
Monitor authentication events to the admin interface from unexpected source networks or geolocations

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-55148

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Ivanti Connect Secure to 22.7R2.9 or 22.8R2, Policy Secure to 22.7R1.6, and ZTA Gateway to 2.8R2.3-723
Confirm Ivanti Neurons for Secure Access is on 22.8R1.4 or later; Ivanti deployed the fix on 02-Aug-2025
Audit all read-only administrator accounts and rotate their credentials following the upgrade
Review device configuration against a known-good baseline to detect prior unauthorized changes

Patch Information

Ivanti has released fixed versions for all affected products. Refer to the Ivanti September Security Advisory for the complete list of fixed builds and upgrade instructions. The Neurons for Secure Access fix was deployed by Ivanti on 02-Aug-2025.

Workarounds

Restrict access to the administrative interface to a small set of trusted management networks using firewall rules
Reduce the number of read-only administrator accounts and disable any that are not actively required
Enforce multi-factor authentication on all administrator roles, including read-only accounts

bash

# Configuration example
# Restrict admin interface access to a management subnet (example iptables rule)
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -s 10.0.10.0/24 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j DROP