CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-53942 — authentik is an open-source Identity Provider that emphasizes flexibility and versatility, with support for a wide set of protocols

High CVSS 7.4

authentik is an open-source Identity Provider that emphasizes flexibility and versatility, with support for a wide set of protocols. In versions 2025.4.4 and earlier, as well as versions 2025.6.0-rc1 through 2025.6.3, deactivated users who registered through OAuth/SAML or linked their accounts to OAuth/SAML providers can still retain partial access to the system despite their accounts being deactivated. They end up in a half-authenticated state where they cannot access the API but crucially they can authorize applications if they know the URL of the application. To workaround this issue, developers can add an expression policy to the user login stage on the respective authentication flow with the expression of return request.context["pending_user"].is_active. This modification ensures that the return statement only activates the user login stage when the user is active. This issue is fixed in versions authentik 2025.4.4 and 2025.6.4.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.4 (3.1)
Published
2025-07-23
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-269

Affected products

  • goauthentik / authentik

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

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Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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