CVE-2026-25753: Placipy Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2026-25753 Overview

CVE-2026-25753 is a critical hardcoded credentials vulnerability affecting PlaciPy, a placement management system designed for educational institutions. In version 1.0.0, the application uses a hard-coded, static default password for all newly created student accounts. This severe security flaw allows any attacker who discovers the password to log in as any student, resulting in mass account takeover across the entire system.

Critical Impact

This vulnerability enables complete compromise of student accounts across educational institutions using PlaciPy, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive placement data, personal information, and academic records.

Affected Products

• Prasklatechnology PlaciPy version 1.0.0

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-06 - CVE-2026-25753 published to NVD
• 2026-02-11 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-25753

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability falls under CWE-259 (Use of Hard-coded Password), a configuration and design flaw that represents a fundamental security anti-pattern. The issue stems from the application's authentication mechanism using identical default credentials for every newly registered student account.

When new student accounts are provisioned in PlaciPy, the system assigns the same static password to each account rather than generating unique credentials or requiring immediate password changes. This architectural weakness means that once an attacker discovers this default password—whether through documentation, social engineering, or reverse engineering—they gain the ability to authenticate as any student in the system.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability means attackers can exploit it remotely without any prior authentication or user interaction. The impact encompasses complete loss of confidentiality, integrity, and availability for affected student accounts.

Root Cause

The root cause is the implementation of a hard-coded default password within the PlaciPy application code. Rather than implementing secure account provisioning practices such as randomly generated initial passwords, email-based password setup workflows, or mandatory first-login password changes, the developers chose a static credential approach that fundamentally undermines the authentication system's security model.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires no authentication or special privileges. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by:

1. Identifying a PlaciPy installation at an educational institution
2. Obtaining the default password (through documentation review, source code analysis, or social engineering)
3. Enumerating valid student usernames (often predictable patterns like student IDs or email addresses)
4. Authenticating to any student account using the known default password

The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because:

• No exploit code is required—only knowledge of the default password
• Mass exploitation is trivial once the password is known
• Affected accounts may contain sensitive placement records, personal data, and academic information

For technical details regarding the vulnerability, refer to the GitHub Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-25753

Indicators of Compromise

• Multiple successful authentication attempts from unusual IP addresses or geographic locations across different student accounts in a short timeframe
• Login patterns showing access to numerous distinct student accounts from the same source
• Account access from IP addresses inconsistent with the student's typical access patterns
• Bulk data access or export operations following authentication

Detection Strategies

• Implement authentication logging and monitor for anomalous login patterns, particularly successful logins to multiple accounts from single sources
• Deploy user behavior analytics to identify access patterns inconsistent with normal student activity
• Monitor for credential stuffing-like patterns where multiple accounts are accessed sequentially
• Review application logs for evidence of password enumeration or account harvesting attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive audit logging for all authentication events including timestamps, source IPs, and user agents
• Set up alerts for successful logins from new devices or locations for each student account
• Implement rate limiting on authentication endpoints to detect and slow mass account access attempts
• Configure SIEM rules to correlate authentication events across multiple accounts

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-25753

Immediate Actions Required

• Immediately force password resets for all existing student accounts in PlaciPy installations
• Review authentication logs to identify any accounts that may have been compromised
• Notify users about the security issue and provide guidance on selecting strong, unique passwords
• Consider temporarily restricting access to the application until passwords are reset

Patch Information

Organizations should review the GitHub Security Advisory for official patch information and updated versions from Prasklatechnology. Upgrade to a patched version as soon as one becomes available.

Workarounds

• Implement an external password reset mechanism that forces all students to create unique passwords before accessing the system
• Deploy multi-factor authentication (MFA) as an additional layer of protection to reduce the impact of compromised passwords
• If possible, integrate PlaciPy with an enterprise identity provider (SSO/SAML) that enforces strong password policies
• Restrict network access to PlaciPy installations using VPN or IP allowlisting until proper authentication controls are in place

# Example: Force password expiration for all accounts (implementation depends on database backend)
# Consult your database administrator and test in a non-production environment first
# This is a conceptual example - actual commands vary by deployment

# 1. Export list of affected accounts for audit trail
# 2. Update password expiration flags in the database
# 3. Configure application to require password change on next login
# 4. Notify all users of mandatory password reset