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Unauthenticated Disclosure of PSU HAX CMS Site Listings via haxPsuUsage API Endpoint

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 2, 2025 in haxtheweb/issues

Package

npm @haxtheweb/open-apis (npm)

Affected versions

<= 10.0.1

Patched versions

None

Description

Summary

An unauthenticated information disclosure vulnerability exists in the PSU deployment of HAX CMS via the haxPsuUsage API endpoint. This allows any remote unauthenticated user to retrieve a full list of PSU websites hosted on HAX CMS. When chained with other authorization issues (e.g., HAX-3), this could assist in targeted attacks such as unauthorized content modification or deletion.


Details

The endpoint https://open-apis.hax.cloud/api/services/stats/haxPsuUsage returns a list of websites on the PSU instance of HAX CMS. This endpoint is exposed without any authentication or authorization checks.

The source of the issue is in the haxPsuUsage.js file, which appears to directly serve the site listing without verifying user identity or access level. This enables anyone with the endpoint URL to enumerate all site instances under the PSU deployment.

This endpoint may have originally been used for internal or statistical purposes but is now publicly accessible, representing a privacy and enumeration risk.


PoC

To reproduce this vulnerability:

  1. Open a terminal or browser.
  2. Send a GET request to the following endpoint:
    curl https://open-apis.hax.cloud/api/services/stats/haxPsuUsage
    

Impact

The haxPsuUsage endpoint exposes a full list of PSU HAX CMS websites to any unauthenticated user, allowing external actors to enumerate all sites under the PSU domain. This alone represents an information disclosure vulnerability.

When chained with the Lack Of Authorization Checks CVE, which involves missing authorization checks on key API endpoints, the risk escalates significantly. An authenticated attacker can:

  • Modify or delete other users' sites via:
    • createNode(), saveNode(), deleteNode()
  • Access sensitive metadata or credentials:
    • getConfig(), downloadSite()
  • Clone or remove entire sites:
    • cloneSite(), deleteSite(), archiveSite()

Combined, these issues allow a low-privileged user to fully compromise any site in the PSU HAX CMS instance.

This vulnerability chain puts content integrity, availability, and confidentiality at risk for potentially hundreds of PSU academic, instructional, and departmental sites.

References

@btopro btopro published to haxtheweb/issues Jun 2, 2025
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jun 2, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jun 5, 2025
Reviewed Jun 5, 2025

Severity

Moderate

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 v3 base metrics

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

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A: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.
(6th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2025-48996

GHSA ID

GHSA-fvx2-x7ff-fc56

Source code

Credits

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