CVE-2025-54378 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.3) CWE-285 vulnerability in @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs. A fix is available for @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
HAX CMS Backend Lacks Comprehensive Authorization Checks
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-54378.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2025-54378 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
@haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejsnpmDescription
Summary
The HAX CMS API endpoints do not perform authorization checks when interacting with a resource. Both the JS and PHP versions of the CMS do not verify that a user has permission to interact with a resource before performing a given operation.
Details
The API endpoints within the HAX CMS application check if a user is authenticated, but don't check for authorization before performing an operation.
Affected Resources
- Operations.php: 760
createNode() - Operations.php: 868
saveNode() - Operations.php: 1171
deleteNode() - Operations.php: 1789
listSites() - Operations.php: 1890
createSite() - Operations.php: 2196
getConfig() - Operations.php: 2389
cloneSite() - Operations.php: 2467
deleteSite() - Operations.php: 2524
downloadSite() - Operations.php: 2607
archiveSite()
Note: This may not include all affected endpoints within the application.
Impact
An authenticated attacker can make requests to interact with other users' sites. This can be used to enumerate, modify, and delete other users' sites and nodes.
Additionally, an authenticated attacker can use the 'getConfig' endpoint to pull the application's configuration, which may store cleartext credentials.
PoC - /deleteNode
- Browse to the 'site.json' file for a target site, and note the ID of the item to delete.
- Make a POST request to the 'deleteNode' endpoint with a valid JWT and the target object ID.
Site before editing:
Site after editing:
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs | all versions | 11.0.14npm install @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs@11.0.14 |
| 🐘Packagist | elmsln/haxcms | all versions | 11.0.14composer require elmsln/haxcms:^11.0.14 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs to 11.0.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-54378 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2025-54378 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-54378. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-54378 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-54378 across npm, Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.