CVE-2025-25201 Improper Validation of Admin Key in PIV Smartcard
Attackers can bypass admin key validation to overwrite certificates and generate new keys in Nitrokey 3 PIV applications.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2025-25201?
CVE-2025-25201 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in nitrokey-3-firmware, published on 12 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Nitrokey 3 Firmware is the the firmware of Nitrokey 3 USB keys. For release 1.8.0, and test releases with PIV enabled prior to 1.8.0, the PIV application could accept invalid keys for authentication of the admin key. This could lead to compromise of the integrity of the data stored in the application. An attacker without access to the proper administration key would be able to generate new keys and overwrite certificates. Such an attacker would not be able to read-out or extract existing private data, nor would they be able to gain access to cryptographic operations that would normally require PIN-based authentication. The issue is fixed in piv-authenticator 0.3.9, and in Nitrokey's firmware 1.8.1.
Weakness: CWE-287
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-25201?
How do I fix CVE-2025-25201?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-25201 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2025-25201 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-25201 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-jfhm-ppq8-7hgx.