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ZITADEL is vulnerable to Account Takeover with deactivated Instance IdP

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Nov 12, 2025 in zitadel/zitadel • Updated Nov 14, 2025

Package

gomod github.com/zitadel/zitadel (Go)

Affected versions

>= 4.0.0-rc.1, < 4.6.6
>= 3.0.0-rc.1, < 3.4.4
>= 2.50.0, < 2.71.19
>= 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20240403060621-5b3946b67ef6, < 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20251112124840-33c51deb2040

Patched versions

4.6.6
3.4.4
2.71.19
1.80.0-v2.20.0.20251112124840-33c51deb2040

Description

Summary

A vulnerability in ZITADEL's federation process allowed auto-linking users from external identity providers to existing users in ZITADEL even if the corresponding IdP was not active or if the organization did not allow federated authentication.

Impact

This vulnerability stems from the platform's failure to correctly check or enforce an organization's specific security settings during the authentication flow. An Organization Administrator can explicitly disable an IdP or disallow federation, but this setting was not being honored during the auto-linking process.

This allowed an unauthenticated attacker to initiate a login using an IdP that should have been disabled for that organization. The platform would incorrectly validate the login and, based on a matching criteria, link the attacker's external identity to an existing internal user account.

This may result in a full Account Takeover, bypassing the organization's mandated security controls. Note that accounts with MFA enabled can not be taken over by this attack. Also note that only IdPs create on an instance level would allow this to work. IdPs registered on another organization would always be denied in the (auto-)linking process.

Affected Versions

Systems running one of the following versions are affected:

  • v4.x: 4.0.0-rc.1 through 4.6.5
  • v3.x: 3.0.0-rc.1 through 3.4.3
  • v2.x: 2.50.0 through 2.71.18

Patches

The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest release. The patch resolves the issue by correctly validating the organization's login policy before auto-linking an external user.

  • v4.x: Upgrade to version 4.6.6 or later.
  • v3.x: Update to version 3.4.4 or later.
  • v2.x: Update to version 2.71.19 or later.

Workarounds

Upgrading to a patched version is the recommended solution.

Questions

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email Zitadel at [email protected]

Credits

Thanks to Jan Kühnlein - kultify for finding and reporting the vulnerability.

References

@livio-a livio-a published to zitadel/zitadel Nov 12, 2025
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Nov 13, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Nov 14, 2025
Reviewed Nov 14, 2025
Last updated Nov 14, 2025

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements Present
Privileges Required High
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(52nd percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Authentication

When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2025-64717

GHSA ID

GHSA-j4g7-v4m4-77px

Source code

Credits

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