# CVE-2021-25920: Missing authorization in openemr

> A malicious user can read and send sensitive messages on behalf of a victim due to improper access control during user creation in OpenEMR.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Mar 2021
- **Updated:** 30 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4qcm-h32c-8xq3

## What is CVE-2021-25920?

CVE-2021-25920 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Open-Emr Openemr, published on 22 Mar 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In OpenEMR, versions v2.7.2-rc1 to 6.0.0 are vulnerable to Improper Access Control when creating a new user, which leads to a malicious user able to read and send sensitive messages on behalf of the victim user.

Weakness: CWE-178 (Improper Handling of Case Sensitivity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-25920?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Open-Emr Openemr.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-25920?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-25920 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-25920 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25920 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Open-Emr Openemr

- [CVE-2026-24898](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24898/): OpenEMR has an Unauthenticated MedEx Token Disclosure (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-24849](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24849/): OpenEMR Arbitrary File Read Vulnerability (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-24908](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24908/): OpenEMR has SQL Injection in Patient API Sort Parameter (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2022-2734](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2734/): Improper Restriction of Rendered UI Layers or Frames in openemr/openemr (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-22611](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-22611/): SQL injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-25920 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-25920 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Open-Emr Openemr, published on 22 Mar 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25920 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Open-Emr Openemr. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25920/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25920/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25920
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25920
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-25920

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25920/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.