CVE-2025-67752 Overview
OpenEMR, a widely-used free and open source electronic health records (EHR) and medical practice management application, contains a critical SSL/TLS certificate validation bypass vulnerability in versions prior to 7.0.4. The application's HTTP client wrapper (oeHttp/oeHttpRequest) disables SSL/TLS certificate verification by default using verify: false, rendering all external HTTPS connections vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. This security flaw affects communication with government healthcare APIs and user-configurable external services, potentially exposing Protected Health Information (PHI) to unauthorized interception.
Critical Impact
Healthcare organizations using affected OpenEMR versions face significant risk of PHI exposure through MITM attacks on external API communications, potentially violating HIPAA compliance requirements.
Affected Products
- OpenEMR versions prior to 7.0.4
- Open-emr OpenEMR (all platforms)
- Systems utilizing oeHttp/oeHttpRequest HTTP client wrapper
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-02-25 - CVE-2025-67752 published to NVD
- 2026-02-25 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-67752
Vulnerability Analysis
This vulnerability (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation) stems from a fundamental misconfiguration in OpenEMR's HTTP client implementation. The oeHttp and oeHttpRequest wrapper classes explicitly disable SSL/TLS certificate verification, bypassing the chain-of-trust validation that protects HTTPS communications. When certificate verification is disabled, the application accepts any certificate presented by a server—including self-signed, expired, or fraudulently obtained certificates—without validation.
In a healthcare context, this is particularly concerning as OpenEMR communicates with external services including government healthcare APIs for electronic prescribing, insurance verification, and health information exchanges. An attacker positioned on the network path could intercept these communications without detection.
Root Cause
The root cause is the explicit configuration of verify: false in the HTTP client wrapper implementation. This setting instructs the underlying HTTP library to skip SSL/TLS certificate chain validation, hostname verification, and certificate revocation checks. While this configuration may have been implemented to simplify development or testing environments, leaving it as the default in production creates a significant security vulnerability.
Attack Vector
The attack vector is network-based and requires the attacker to position themselves between the OpenEMR server and the external service being accessed. This can be accomplished through:
- ARP spoofing on local networks
- DNS poisoning attacks
- Compromised network infrastructure
- Rogue wireless access points in healthcare facilities
Once positioned, the attacker can intercept, read, and modify all HTTPS traffic between OpenEMR and external services. The high attack complexity (AC:H in CVSS) reflects that successful exploitation requires the attacker to achieve a man-in-the-middle position, though no privileges or user interaction are required once positioned.
The vulnerability mechanism involves the HTTP client wrapper's default configuration that disables SSL/TLS certificate verification. When OpenEMR initiates outbound HTTPS connections to external services, the verify: false parameter causes the application to accept any certificate without validation. For detailed technical information, see the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-2g6h-725p-pqhp.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-67752
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected SSL/TLS certificate warnings or errors in downstream systems communicating with OpenEMR
- Network traffic analysis showing certificate mismatches between expected and presented certificates
- Anomalous outbound connections from OpenEMR servers to unexpected IP addresses
- Evidence of DNS resolution anomalies affecting OpenEMR external service endpoints
Detection Strategies
- Deploy network-based intrusion detection systems (IDS) to monitor for certificate anomalies in OpenEMR traffic
- Implement certificate pinning validation at the network perimeter for known healthcare API endpoints
- Review OpenEMR application logs for failed or suspicious external API connections
- Conduct regular code audits to identify HTTP client configurations with disabled certificate verification
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable comprehensive logging of all outbound HTTPS connections from OpenEMR servers
- Monitor for changes to HTTP client configuration files or wrapper classes
- Implement network segmentation to limit exposure of OpenEMR servers to potential MITM positions
- Deploy certificate transparency monitoring for domains used by healthcare APIs
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-67752
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade OpenEMR to version 7.0.4 or later immediately
- Audit all OpenEMR instances to identify vulnerable versions prior to 7.0.4
- Review network architecture to minimize MITM attack surface for healthcare communications
- Notify compliance teams of potential PHI exposure risk during the vulnerable period
Patch Information
OpenEMR version 7.0.4 addresses this vulnerability by enabling SSL/TLS certificate verification by default in the HTTP client wrapper. The fix is available in commit 22f8e53e5769a88b7a16cb223bd197d044c84e5a. Organizations should apply this update through their standard patch management process after testing in a non-production environment. The GitHub Security Advisory provides additional details on the remediation.
Workarounds
- If immediate upgrade is not possible, manually modify the HTTP client wrapper to enable certificate verification (verify: true)
- Implement network-level SSL/TLS inspection using a trusted proxy that validates certificates before forwarding traffic
- Restrict OpenEMR's network access to only required external endpoints using firewall rules
- Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with SSL/TLS inspection capabilities between OpenEMR and external services
# Verify OpenEMR version to confirm patch status
grep -r "version" /var/www/openemr/version.php
# Check for vulnerable HTTP client configuration
grep -r "verify.*false" /var/www/openemr/library/
# Review outbound connections from OpenEMR server
netstat -tulpn | grep -E "(443|https)"
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
