# CVE-2025-3985: Apereo CAS ResponseEntity redos

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service in Apereo CAS by exploiting inefficient regular expression complexity in the ResponseEntity function.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.1 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 28 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8rx4-fxq5-vj4v

## What is CVE-2025-3985?

CVE-2025-3985 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Apereo CAS, published on 27 Apr 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability was found in Apereo CAS 5.2.6. It has been classified as problematic. This affects the function ResponseEntity of the file cas-5.2.6\webapp-mgmt\cas-management-webapp-support\src\main\java\org\apereo\cas\mgmt\services\web\ManageRegisteredServicesMultiActionController.java. The manipulation of the argument Query leads to inefficient regular expression complexity. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption), CWE-1333 (Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-3985?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apereo.cas:cas-management-webapp-support. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.apereo.cas:cas-management-webapp-support` | Maven | All versions to 5.2.6 | None |
| `org.apereo.cas:cas-management-webapp-support` | Maven | All versions to 5.2.6 | None |

Products: Apereo Central Authentication Service.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-3985?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-3985 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-3985 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-3985 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Apereo CAS

- [CVE-2023-4612](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4612/): MFA bypass in Apereo CAS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-4399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4399/): CAS <= 1.0.0 - Unauthenticated SSRF (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2019-10754](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10754/): Use of Insufficiently Random Values in Apereo CAS (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2020-27178](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27178/): Improper Authentication in Apereo CAS (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2015-1169](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1169/): Auth bypass in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-3985 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-3985 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Apereo CAS, published on 27 Apr 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-3985 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.apereo.cas:cas-management-webapp-support (Maven): affected all versions up to 5.2.6; no fix listed
- org.apereo.cas:cas-management-webapp-support (Maven): affected all versions up to 5.2.6; no fix listed

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-2025-3985/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3985/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-3985
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-3985
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-3985

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-3985/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.