Summary
Craft CMS: GraphQL Asset Mutation Privilege Escalation
There is a Privilege Escalation vulnerability in Craft CMS’s GraphQL API that allows an authenticated user with write access to one asset volume to escalate their privileges and modify/transfer assets belonging to any other volume, including restricted or private volumes to which they should not have access.
Type: Privilege Escalation (CWE-269)
Affected: Craft CMS 5.x (likely affects 4.x and 3.x as well)
Location: src/gql/resolvers/mutations/Asset.php lines 57-107
Root Cause:
The saveAsset GraphQL mutation validates authorization against the schema-resolved volume but fetches the target asset by ID without verifying that the asset belongs to the authorized volume. This allows unauthorized cross-volume asset modification and transfer.
Impact
- Transfer confidential assets from private volumes to public volumes (data exfiltration)
- Modify asset metadata in restricted volumes
- Bypass multi-tenant isolation in shared hosting environments
The application assigns, modifies, tracks, or checks privileges incorrectly, allowing a user to gain elevated access. Typical impact: privilege escalation beyond the intended level.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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craftcms/cms to 5.9.0-beta.1 or later; craftcms/cms to 4.17.0-beta.1 or later
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-25497? CVE-2026-25497 is a high-severity improper privilege management vulnerability in craftcms/cms (composer), affecting versions >= 5.0.0-RC1, < 5.9.0-beta.1. It is fixed in 5.9.0-beta.1, 4.17.0-beta.1. The application assigns, modifies, tracks, or checks privileges incorrectly, allowing a user to gain elevated access.
- Which versions of craftcms/cms are affected by CVE-2026-25497? craftcms/cms (composer) versions >= 5.0.0-RC1, < 5.9.0-beta.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-25497? Yes. CVE-2026-25497 is fixed in 5.9.0-beta.1, 4.17.0-beta.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-25497 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-25497 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-25497 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-25497?
- Upgrade
craftcms/cmsto 5.9.0-beta.1 or later - Upgrade
craftcms/cmsto 4.17.0-beta.1 or later
- Upgrade