Detect CVE-2025-2746: Kentico Xperience CMS Authentication Bypass in IBM QRadar
Detects exploitation of CVE-2025-2746, an authentication bypass vulnerability (CWE-288) in Kentico Xperience CMS that allows attackers to access protected resources via alternate paths or channels without valid credentials. This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV).
MITRE ATT&CK
QRadar Detection Query
SELECT
sourceip,
"URL" AS request_uri,
"HTTP Response Code" AS http_status,
"Username" AS auth_user,
COUNT(*) AS request_count,
MIN(starttime) AS first_seen,
MAX(starttime) AS last_seen
FROM events
WHERE
LOGSOURCETYPENAME(devicetype) IN ('Microsoft IIS', 'Apache HTTP Server', 'Nginx')
AND ("URL" IMATCHES '.*/(CMSPages|CMSModules|CMSAdminControls|CMS|Admin)/.*')
AND "HTTP Response Code" IN ('200', '201', '302')
AND ("Username" IS NULL OR "Username" IN ('-', '', 'anonymous'))
AND "URL" NOT IMATCHES '.*(login|logon|signin|auth).*'
AND DATEFORMAT(starttime, 'YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm') >= DATEFORMAT(NOW() - 604800000, 'YYYY-MM-dd HH:mm')
GROUP BY sourceip, "URL", "HTTP Response Code", "Username"
HAVING COUNT(*) >= 3
ORDER BY request_count DESC
LAST 7 DAYSQRadar AQL query to detect unauthenticated successful HTTP access to Kentico Xperience CMS administrative and protected paths. Groups by source IP to identify repeated access patterns consistent with authentication bypass exploitation.
Data Sources
Required Tables
False Positives & Tuning
- Authorized vulnerability scanners operating against the Kentico CMS instance
- Application monitoring solutions checking CMS availability without session management
- Browser pre-fetch or speculative loading of CMS resources before authentication completes
- Partner or integration services accessing specific CMS API endpoints with alternative authentication mechanisms
Other platforms for CVE-2025-2746
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 4 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1CVE-2025-2746 Authentication Bypass Path Enumeration
Expected signal: IIS access log entries showing HTTP GET requests to /CMSPages/, /CMSModules/, /CMSAdminControls/, /CMS/, and /Admin/ paths from the test host IP without a cs-username value, with HTTP response codes of 200, 302, or 401 depending on patch status.
- Test 2CVE-2025-2746 Alternate Path Channel Bypass Attempt
Expected signal: IIS logs should capture the URL-encoded and case-variant path requests. ASP.NET request normalization may cause the logged URI to differ from the requested URI — look for both raw and normalized forms in telemetry. Windows Security Event Log may show failed authorization attempts (Event ID 4625) if integrated auth is configured.
- Test 3CVE-2025-2746 Post-Exploitation CMS Account Creation Simulation
Expected signal: IIS logs showing POST request to /CMSModules/Membership/Pages/Users/User_Edit_General.aspx without authentication. Kentico CMS_EventLog table entries for user creation attempt. Windows Security Event Log entries for IIS process activity. If successful on unpatched system, CMS_User table will contain the new account.
- Test 4CVE-2025-2746 Network-Level Authentication Bypass Detection Validation
Expected signal: 10 concurrent HTTP requests to Kentico CMS paths appearing in IIS logs within a 1-second window, all from the same source IP without authentication headers. The burst pattern should appear clearly in SIEM dashboards.
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