CVE-2025-65998: Apache Syncope: Default AES key used for internal password encryption

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-11-24 · updated 2026-10-18
Weakness: CWE-321

Description

Apache Syncope can be configured to store the user password values in the internal database with AES encryption, though this is not the default option. When AES is configured, the default key value, hard-coded in the source code, is always used. This allows a malicious attacker, once obtained access to the internal database content, to reconstruct the original cleartext password values. This is not affecting encrypted plain attributes, whose values are also stored using AES encryption. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.0.15 / 4.0.3, which fix this issue.

Affected products

Apache Software Foundation Apache Syncope: from 2.1.0 through 2.1.14; from 3.0.0 before 3.0.15; from 4.0.0 before 4.0.3 — fixed in 3.0.15, 4.0.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Apache Software Foundation Apache Syncope 3.0.15, 4.0.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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