GHSA-f82v-jwr5-mffw CVE-2025-29927

Authorization Bypass in Next.js Middleware

Critical npm

Severity: 9.1 / 10; Critical · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS): 99.22%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 99.94% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-285 Improper Authorization; CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization
Fix: 13.5.9; Upgrade next to this version or later

Description

Impact

It is possible to bypass authorization checks within a Next.js application, if the authorization check occurs in middleware.

Patches

For Next.js 15.x, this issue is fixed in 15.2.3
For Next.js 14.x, this issue is fixed in 14.2.25
For Next.js 13.x, this issue is fixed in 13.5.9
For Next.js 12.x, this issue is fixed in 12.3.5
For Next.js 11.x, consult the below workaround.

Note: Next.js deployments hosted on Vercel are automatically protected against this vulnerability.

Workaround

If patching to a safe version is infeasible, we recommend that you prevent external user requests which contain the x-middleware-subrequest header from reaching your Next.js application.

Credits

Allam Rachid (zhero;)
Allam Yasser (inzo_)

Affected versions

npm

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
next	`>= 13.0.0, < 13.5.9`	`13.5.9`
next	`>= 14.0.0, < 14.2.25`	`14.2.25`
next	`>= 15.0.0, < 15.2.3`	`15.2.3`
next	`>= 12.0.0, < 12.3.5`	`12.3.5`

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

next npm → `13.5.9`

npm

npm install next@13.5.9

yarn

yarn add next@13.5.9

pnpm

pnpm add next@13.5.9

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 9.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Weakness

CWE-285: Improper Authorization

The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

How to prevent it

Architecture and Design: Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries. Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.
Architecture and Design: Ensure that you perform access control checks related to your business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that you apply to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records. For example, a database may restrict access for medical records to a specific database user, but each record might only be intended to be accessible to the patient and the patient's doctor.
Architecture and Design: Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid. For example, consider using authorization frameworks such as the JAAS Authorization Framework [REF-233] and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature [REF-45].
Architecture and Design: For web applications, make sure that the access control mechanism is enforced correctly at the server side on every page. Users should not be able to access any unauthorized functionality or information by simply requesting direct access to that page. One way to do this is to ensure that all pages containing sensitive information are not cached, and that all such pages restrict access to requests that are accompanied by an active and authenticated session token associated with a user who has the required permissions to access that page.
System Configuration, Installation: Use the access control capabilities of your operating system and server environment and define your access control lists accordingly. Use a "default deny" policy when defining these ACLs.

CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization

The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.

How to prevent it

Architecture and Design: Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) [REF-229] to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries. Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.
Architecture and Design: Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records. For example, a database may restrict access for medical records to a specific database user, but each record might only be intended to be accessible to the patient and the patient's doctor [REF-7].
Architecture and Design: Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid. For example, consider using authorization frameworks such as the JAAS Authorization Framework [REF-233] and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature [REF-45].
Architecture and Design: For web applications, make sure that the access control mechanism is enforced correctly at the server side on every page. Users should not be able to access any unauthorized functionality or information by simply requesting direct access to that page. One way to do this is to ensure that all pages containing sensitive information are not cached, and that all such pages restrict access to requests that are accompanied by an active and authenticated session token associated with a user who has the required permissions to access that page.
System Configuration, Installation: Use the access control capabilities of your operating system and server environment and define your access control lists accordingly. Use a "default deny" policy when defining these ACLs.

References

Advisories

Packages

github.com/vercel/next.js

Timeline

Mar 21, 2025 Published
Sep 10, 2026 Last updated by the source
Nov 1, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-673q-mjm6-r5xr Next.js: Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution in `use cache` functions returning typed arrays	Critical	Also affects next
GHSA-2464-fhr4-w9xw Next.js: Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution in Image Optimization API when SVG files are used	Critical	Also affects next
GHSA-p3m5-59mp-jv5r Next.js: Denial of Service in App Router using Server Actions	High	Also affects next
GHSA-3w37-wq28-93x7 Next.js: Pending `use cache` fill can leak Draft Mode content into regular responses and persisted pages	Medium	Also affects next
GHSA-4jqv-mc3x-m676 Next.js has cache poisoning of SSG and ISR pages in self-hosted applications	Medium	Also affects next
GHSA-39w2-rjm5-chcv Next.js has information disclosure in development server's Model Context Protocol endpoint	Medium	Also affects next
GHSA-f87g-xv8r-7p7x Next.js has information disclosure in App Router metadata image routes via dynamicParams bypass	Medium	Also affects next
GHSA-mcj8-r9mp-w47p Next.js has cache poisoning in SSG/ISR rendering that leads to cross-user content substitution and persistent denial of service	Medium	Also affects next

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