CVE-2025-69246: Raytha CMS Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2025-69246 Overview

CVE-2025-69246 is a missing brute force protection vulnerability affecting Raytha CMS. The content management system fails to implement any rate limiting, account lockout, or step-up authentication challenges on its login endpoints. This allows attackers to send unlimited automated authentication requests without triggering any defensive mechanisms, potentially enabling credential stuffing attacks or password guessing campaigns against user accounts.

Critical Impact

Attackers can perform unlimited login attempts against Raytha CMS instances, potentially compromising user accounts through brute force password attacks without detection or prevention.

Affected Products

• Raytha CMS versions prior to 1.4.6

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-16 - CVE-2025-69246 published to NVD
• 2026-03-16 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-69246

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts. The weakness stems from Raytha CMS's authentication system lacking fundamental security controls that would normally prevent or detect brute force attacks.

When a user attempts to authenticate, the application processes each login request independently without maintaining state about failed attempts. This architectural oversight means the system cannot identify patterns consistent with automated attacks, such as rapid successive login failures from the same IP address or targeting the same account.

The vulnerability is network-accessible, requiring no authentication or user interaction to exploit. An attacker simply needs network access to the Raytha CMS login endpoint to begin automated credential testing. While the immediate impact per successful exploitation is limited to the compromised account's privileges, successful attacks could lead to unauthorized access to CMS administrative functions, content manipulation, or lateral movement within the organization's infrastructure.

Root Cause

The root cause is the complete absence of authentication rate limiting mechanisms in Raytha CMS. The application does not implement:

• Account lockout policies after consecutive failed login attempts
• Progressive delays between authentication attempts
• CAPTCHA or step-up challenges after suspicious activity
• IP-based throttling for login requests
• Detection and alerting for brute force patterns

This design gap allows attackers to programmatically submit credentials at machine speed without any defensive intervention from the application layer.

Attack Vector

The attack is conducted over the network against the Raytha CMS login endpoint. An attacker would typically:

1. Identify a target Raytha CMS installation and its authentication endpoint
2. Compile a list of potential usernames (often gathered through reconnaissance or using common patterns)
3. Use automated tools to submit login requests with password lists or credential databases from previous breaches
4. Continue attempts indefinitely until valid credentials are discovered or the password list is exhausted

The attack requires no prior authentication, no special privileges, and no user interaction. Standard penetration testing tools like Hydra, Burp Suite Intruder, or custom scripts can automate this attack with minimal configuration. For additional technical context, refer to the CERT Poland analysis and the Raytha official website.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-69246

Indicators of Compromise

• High volume of failed authentication attempts from single IP addresses or targeting specific accounts
• Authentication requests arriving at intervals faster than human typing speed
• Login attempts using known credential dump patterns or common password sequences
• Unusual geographic distribution of authentication requests for specific accounts

Detection Strategies

• Configure web application firewalls to detect and block rapid authentication attempts
• Implement log analysis rules to identify authentication anomalies based on request rate and failure patterns
• Deploy intrusion detection signatures for common brute force tool fingerprints
• Monitor authentication logs for accounts experiencing abnormal failure rates

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging of all authentication events including source IP, timestamp, username, and outcome
• Set up automated alerting for accounts exceeding configurable failed login thresholds
• Implement real-time dashboard monitoring for authentication endpoint traffic patterns
• Review authentication logs regularly for signs of credential testing or spray attacks

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-69246

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Raytha CMS to version 1.4.6 or later which includes the security fix
• Implement network-level rate limiting on authentication endpoints using a web application firewall or reverse proxy
• Enable multi-factor authentication for all accounts, especially administrative users
• Review authentication logs for signs of prior exploitation and force password resets if suspicious activity is detected

Patch Information

This vulnerability has been addressed in Raytha CMS version 1.4.6. Organizations running vulnerable versions should plan an immediate upgrade. The fix implements proper authentication rate limiting and account lockout mechanisms to prevent brute force attacks.

Workarounds

• Deploy a reverse proxy (such as nginx or HAProxy) with rate limiting configured for authentication endpoints
• Implement IP-based access controls to restrict login page access to known networks or VPN connections
• Use a Web Application Firewall with brute force protection rules enabled
• Consider implementing CAPTCHA protection on the login page as an additional layer until patching is completed

# Example nginx rate limiting configuration for authentication endpoint
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=login:10m rate=5r/m;

location /login {
    limit_req zone=login burst=10 nodelay;
    limit_req_status 429;
    proxy_pass http://raytha_backend;
}