A newly discovered vulnerability (CVE-2025-22445) within Mattermost versions 10.x up to and including 10.2 could leave businesses at risk for misconfigurations due to inaccurate UI reporting. This post aims to discuss the details around this vulnerability, the potential impact, and the steps that developers and administrators should take to mitigate the associated risks.

Mattermost is a popular open-source messaging and collaboration platform used by many companies worldwide. Given the importance of proper configurations, any issue affecting the clarity and understanding of system settings could create hazards to the overall security of the software.

The Vulnerability: CVE-2025-22445

The CVE-2025-22445 vulnerability lies in Mattermost's handling of missing settings in the Calls security-sensitive configuration UI. Specifically, affected versions fail to accurately reflect missing settings, which can lead to confusion and potential misconfigurations by administrators.

To further illustrate the issue, let's take a look at a code snipplet

# Original code (vulnerable)
def get_calls_config():
  config = get_calls_default_settings()
  config.update(get_specific_values_or_empty(CONFIG_PATH))

  return config

# Fixed code
def get_calls_config():
  config = get_calls_default_settings()
  present_values = get_specific_values_or_empty(CONFIG_PATH)
  for key, value in present_values.items():
    if value is not None:
      config[key] = value

  return config

In the original (vulnerable) code, the function get_calls_config() obtains the default settings and then attempts to merge them with any specific settings within the platform. However, it fails to acknowledge whether the settings are accurate or missing, leading to incorrect reporting in the user interface.

The fixed code, on the other hand, takes a more cautious approach. It loops through each value returned by get_specific_values_or_empty(), checking if the value is None or not, and updating the settings dictionary only when a value is present.

Exploit Details

While no known public exploits have targeted this vulnerability to date, attackers could potentially leverage it if they gain access to administrative credentials or other sensitive information. By manipulating configurations and exploiting the inconsistencies in the user interface, the affected parties may be led to believe they are secure when, in fact, they are not.

Original References

The vulnerability was first reported in Mattermost's issue tracker by a concerned member of the community. The official advisory contains further information along with a recommendation to upgrade to a patched version of the software.

Administrators should take the necessary steps to protect their systems and data, which includes

1. Upgrading to the latest version of Mattermost (10.2+), which includes a fix for the CVE-2025-22445 vulnerability.
2. Reviewing your current configurations to ensure you have correct settings in place and that your system is operating as intended.

Regularly applying security patches and updates for all software in your server environment.

4. Monitoring the Mattermost security advisories to stay informed about any potential issues and their corresponding fixes.

To conclude, while it may be seemingly trivial, vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-22445 could lead to disastrous outcomes in terms of security for unsuspecting admins. Taking proactive measures and staying on top of updates and patches can significantly reduce the risk of threats to your infrastructure and data.

Timeline

Published on: 01/09/2025 07:15:28 UTC