CVE-2025-55740: Default Credentials in nginx-defender Configuration Files

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-08-19 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-1392

Description

nginx-defender is a high-performance, enterprise-grade Web Application Firewall (WAF) and threat detection system engineered for modern web infrastructure. This is a configuration vulnerability affecting nginx-defender deployments. Example configuration files config.yaml and docker-compose.yml contain default credentials (default_password: "change_me_please", GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin123). If users deploy nginx-defender without changing these defaults, attackers with network access could gain administrative control, bypassing security protections. The issue is addressed in v1.5.0 and later.

Affected products

Anipaleja nginx-defender: before 1.5.0

References

https://github.com/Anipaleja/nginx-defender/security/advisories/GHSA-pr72-8fxw-xx22

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