CVE-2025-70027 Overview
A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability has been identified in Sunbird-Ed SunbirdEd-portal version 1.13.4. This security flaw, classified as CWE-918, allows attackers to craft malicious requests that the server processes on their behalf, potentially enabling access to sensitive internal information and resources that should not be externally accessible.
Critical Impact
Attackers can exploit this SSRF vulnerability to access sensitive information from internal systems, potentially exposing confidential data, internal service configurations, and cloud metadata endpoints.
Affected Products
- Sunbird-Ed SunbirdEd-portal v1.13.4
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-03-11 - CVE CVE-2025-70027 published to NVD
- 2026-03-12 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-70027
Vulnerability Analysis
This vulnerability is a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) issue that allows attackers to induce the server-side application to make HTTP requests to an arbitrary domain of the attacker's choosing. In the context of SunbirdEd-portal, this could allow malicious actors to probe internal network infrastructure, access internal services, or retrieve sensitive data from cloud metadata services.
The vulnerability enables unauthorized access to confidential information by leveraging the trust relationship between the server and internal resources. When exploited, an attacker can potentially read data from services that are only accessible from the server's network location, bypassing network-level access controls.
Root Cause
The root cause of this SSRF vulnerability lies in insufficient validation and sanitization of user-supplied URLs or URI parameters before the server-side application processes them for outbound requests. The application fails to properly restrict the destination of server-initiated requests, allowing attackers to redirect these requests to arbitrary internal or external endpoints.
In web applications like SunbirdEd-portal, SSRF typically occurs when user input is incorporated into backend HTTP requests without adequate validation of the target URL scheme, hostname, or IP address against an allowlist of permitted destinations.
Attack Vector
The attack vector for this vulnerability is network-based, requiring no authentication and no user interaction to exploit. An attacker can submit crafted requests to the vulnerable endpoint, manipulating URL parameters to direct the server to make requests to internal resources.
Typical SSRF attack scenarios include:
- Accessing cloud provider metadata endpoints (e.g., http://169.254.169.254/) to retrieve instance credentials
- Scanning internal network ports and services
- Accessing internal administrative interfaces
- Reading files from internal file servers
- Interacting with internal APIs that trust requests from the server
For technical details about this specific vulnerability, refer to the GitHub Gist Resource containing additional information.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-70027
Indicators of Compromise
- Outbound requests from the web server to unusual internal IP addresses or metadata endpoints (e.g., 169.254.169.254, 127.0.0.1, 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x)
- Unexpected DNS queries from the web server to internal hostnames
- HTTP access logs showing requests with URL parameters containing internal IP addresses or localhost references
- Network traffic anomalies indicating the web server is scanning internal resources
Detection Strategies
- Implement network-level monitoring for outbound connections from web servers to internal resources that should not normally be accessed
- Deploy web application firewalls (WAF) with SSRF detection rules to identify and block malicious URL manipulation attempts
- Monitor application logs for error messages indicating failed connections to internal or private IP ranges
- Utilize SentinelOne Singularity Platform to detect anomalous network behavior patterns indicative of SSRF exploitation
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable verbose logging on the SunbirdEd-portal application to capture all outbound HTTP requests and their destinations
- Configure network segmentation alerts to detect when the web server attempts to access restricted internal network segments
- Implement egress filtering and monitor for policy violations from web application servers
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-70027
Immediate Actions Required
- Audit the SunbirdEd-portal application for all user-controlled URL inputs and implement strict URL validation
- Deploy network-level egress filtering to prevent the web server from making requests to internal IP ranges and cloud metadata endpoints
- Implement an allowlist of permitted external domains that the application can make requests to
- Consider deploying a web application firewall with SSRF protection capabilities
Patch Information
At the time of publication, users should monitor the Sunbird-Ed GitHub Repository and the SunbirdEd-portal GitHub page for security updates and patch releases addressing this vulnerability. Upgrade to a patched version as soon as one becomes available.
Workarounds
- Implement strict URL validation by using an allowlist approach that only permits requests to known, trusted external domains
- Block outbound requests to private IP address ranges (10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16) and loopback addresses (127.0.0.0/8) at the network level
- Disable or restrict access to cloud metadata endpoints from the web application server using firewall rules or cloud provider security groups
- Deploy the application in a network segment with limited access to internal resources
# Example iptables rules to block SSRF to internal networks
# Block requests to private IP ranges from the web server
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 10.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 172.16.0.0/12 -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 192.168.0.0/16 -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 127.0.0.0/8 -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -d 169.254.169.254 -j DROP
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
