Author: CyberDudeBivash
Powered by: CyberDudeBivash Brand | cyberdudebivash.com
Related: cyberbivash.blogspot.com

 Daily Threat Intel by CyberDudeBivash
Zero-days, exploit breakdowns, IOCs, detection rules & mitigation playbooks.

Follow on LinkedIn Apps & Security Tools

CISA Warns of Actively Exploited Oracle Identity Manager Flaw (CVE-2025-61757) - Pre-Auth RCE Under Active Attack

By CyberDudeBivash • 23-11-2025

The World's Most Complete Cybersecurity Blog - Powered by CyberDudeBivash Pvt Ltd

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn commissions at no extra cost to you.

SUMMARY

• CISA added CVE-2025-61757 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) list.
• The flaw is a missing authentication for a critical function in Oracle Identity Manager.
• It allows pre-auth Remote Code Execution (RCE) with a CVSS score of 9.8.
• Threat actors are actively exploiting it in the wild.
• Immediate patching, SIEM alerts, identity monitoring, and network segmentation are mandatory.

 Partner Picks (Recommended by CyberDudeBivash)

• Edureka Cybersecurity Courses
• AliExpress Tech Deals
• Alibaba Cloud & Hardware
• Kaspersky Premium Security

Table of Contents

• 1. Understanding CVE-2025-61757 - Why It Is Critical
• 2. What CISA Warned: Active Exploitation in the Wild
• 3. Oracle Identity Manager: Why RCE Here Is Devastating
• 4. Technical Breakdown of the Vulnerability
• 5. How Attackers Exploit This Flaw (Step-by-Step)
• 6. Impact on Cloud, IAM, Federation, and Downstream Apps
• 7. Detection Strategies (SIEM, SOC, EDR, Identity Layer)
• 8. Mitigation, Patching, and Temporary Workarounds
• 9. IOCs, Patterns, Traffic Indicators
• 10. 30-60-90 Day Defense Plan (CyberDudeBivash Method)
• 11. FAQ

1. Understanding CVE-2025-61757 - Why This Is a Critical-Level Event

CVE-2025-61757 is a newly disclosed - and now actively exploited - security flaw in Oracle Identity Manager, a key component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. It has a dangerously high CVSS score of 9.8 and allows pre-authentication Remote Code Execution (RCE).

This means attackers can fully compromise Oracle Identity Manager without valid credentials, without interaction, and without bypassing MFA.

Oracle Identity Manager (OIM) sits at the heart of enterprise IAM. If compromised, attackers gain:

• full identity-level access
• enterprise-wide privilege escalation
• federation takeover
• access to downstream cloud & SaaS
• potential supply-chain compromise

A pre-auth RCE on an identity platform is the cybersecurity equivalent of a nuclear breach.

2. What CISA Warned: Immediate Mandatory Action

CISA has added this vulnerability to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog - the U.S. government’s highest-risk active-threat list. This listing is reserved ONLY for vulnerabilities where exploitation has already been confirmed in the real world.

Federal civilian agencies are now legally required to patch this flaw under the Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01.

This means exploitation is already observed across multiple networks - likely including government, enterprise, and cloud-hosted environments.

Threat groups are using automated scanning & exploitation frameworks to target exposed OIM servers on the public internet.

3. Why an RCE in Oracle Identity Manager Is Catastrophic

Oracle Identity Manager controls:

• user creation / deletion
• role assignment
• identity lifecycle automation
• password resets
• privilege workflows
• federation with cloud providers

If attackers compromise OIM:

• they can generate new admin users
• escalate privileges silently
• modify access policies
• bypass identity verification
• grant themselves SSO access to internal systems

Identity-layer compromise = total enterprise compromise.

4. Technical Breakdown of the Vulnerability (CVE-2025-61757)

CVE-2025-61757 is caused by a missing authentication check on a critical backend endpoint of Oracle Identity Manager (OIM). This endpoint processes privileged operations, but fails to validate the caller’s identity - enabling unauthenticated access to internal OIM functions.

4.1 Where the Vulnerability Resides

The flaw is located inside the OIM Server’s core workflow execution component, responsible for:

• user provisioning tasks
• access policy execution
• privilege escalation workflows
• password reset orchestration

A vulnerable URL (redacted for safety) can be accessed remotely without authentication.

4.2 How It Leads to RCE

Due to the authentication bypass, attackers can trigger internal Java methods which accept arbitrary input - resulting in:

• remote command execution
• arbitrary Java code execution
• workflow manipulation
• backend shell access

4.3 Why This Is Pre-Auth

The underlying function does not enforce:

• session validation
• cookie validation
• access tokens
• MFA

This means attackers do NOT need credentials to run privileged commands.

4.4 Why CVSS = 9.8

Because:

• Attack Vector: Network (remote)
• Privileges Required: None
• User Interaction: None
• Impact: Complete RCE
• Scope: Enterprise-wide identity system

5. How Attackers Exploit This Vulnerability (Step-by-Step)

Threat actors are actively scanning for exposed Oracle Identity Manager servers via:

• Shodan
• ZoomEye
• Masscan
• Custom recon tools

5.1 Step 1 - Identify Exposed OIM Servers

Attackers search for default OIM ports, headers, or banner leaks. Once identified, the exploitation begins immediately.

5.2 Step 2 - Send a Malicious Pre-Auth Request

A crafted HTTP request is sent to the vulnerable endpoint. No cookies. No tokens. No session. Completely unauthenticated.

5.3 Step 3 - Trigger Internal Privileged Function

The vulnerable function executes internal Java components with attacker-supplied data.

5.4 Step 4 - Execute Remote Code

Attackers can now:

• spawn a reverse shell
• deploy webshells
• inject payloads
• manipulate workflows
• create new admin identities

5.5 Step 5 - Identity System Takeover

Once inside Oracle Identity Manager, attackers pivot rapidly:

• create privileged accounts
• reset passwords for real users
• escalate access through workflows
• access federated SaaS (O365, Azure, GCP, AWS, Salesforce)

An RCE on the identity layer = full enterprise compromise.

6. Impact on Cloud, IAM, Federation & Enterprise Security

Oracle Identity Manager is a central identity hub. When attackers gain RCE, the blast radius is enormous.

6.1 Cloud Platforms Affected

Compromised OIM can issue or manipulate identity federation assertions to:

• Azure AD / Entra
• AWS IAM Identity Center
• Google Cloud IAM
• Salesforce
• ServiceNow

Attackers can impersonate ANY user across these systems.

6.2 Downstream SaaS Hijacking

OIM manages access flows for dozens of enterprise apps. A compromised identity platform grants attackers:

• SSO access
• privileged roles
• API tokens

6.3 Privilege Escalation Across the Entire Organization

Attackers can promote themselves to:

• Identity Admin
• Cloud Global Admin
• Application Admin
• Database Admin

6.4 Supply-Chain & Lateral Impact

OIM is often connected to:

• HR systems
• ERP
• CRM
• Financial systems

A breach can cascade across interconnected business units.

CVE-2025-61757 isn’t just a vulnerability - it’s a full identity fabric compromise.

7. Detection Strategies - SIEM, SOC, EDR & Identity Layer

Detecting exploitation of CVE-2025-61757 requires deep visibility across endpoints, identity systems, network traffic, and cloud logs. This is not a normal vulnerability - this is an identity-layer RCE, meaning attackers blend into privileged workflows after initial exploitation.

7.1 SIEM Indicators to Monitor

Enable high-priority alerts for:

• Unusual OIM endpoint access from untrusted IPs
• High-frequency requests to backend workflow APIs
• HTTP POST requests without session cookies
• Sharp spikes in 500/400-level responses
• Creation of new privileged users

7.2 EDR Indicators

EDR agents may detect unusual activity on Oracle servers:

• Java spawning unexpected child processes
• Execution of shells from Oracle directories
• Unsigned JAR files being loaded
• Suspicious memory allocations within OIM processes

7.3 Identity-Layer Indicators (ITDR)

Identity attacks leave behavioral patterns even when the initial access is stealthy. Monitor for:

• Sudden creation of high-privilege identities
• Modifications to identity workflows
• Unexpected password reset events
• OAuth / SSO session anomalies
• Impossible travel logins

7.4 Cloud Identity Telemetry

Once inside OIM, attackers pivot toward cloud platforms. Monitor Azure/AWS/GCP for:

• Role elevation attempts
• Login attempts from unusual IP ranges
• Suspicious SAML assertion issuance
• New API tokens or long-lived refresh tokens

8. Mitigation & Temporary Workarounds

While applying the official Oracle patch is mandatory, organizations can enforce temporary controls to reduce exploitation risk.

8.1 Immediate Actions (Do THESE NOW)

• Block public access to all Oracle Identity Manager endpoints
• Enable Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules for anomaly detection
• Restrict OIM to internal networks only
• Force MFA revalidation for privileged users
• Rotate all privileged credentials associated with OIM

8.2 Network Mitigation

• Block all untrusted IP access to OIM servers
• Enable rate limiting on backend OIM URLs
• Monitor TCP/HTTP anomalies

8.3 Application Mitigation

Until patching:

• Disable vulnerable OIM modules (per Oracle advisory)
• Apply strict access control at reverse proxy layer

9. Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

These indicators are based on early threat intelligence reports and observed attacker behavior.

9.1 Network IOCs

• Repeated POST requests without session cookies
• Requests to backend workflow URLs
• Traffic from mass-scanning IP ranges
• Outbound traffic to unknown C2 IPs or TOR exit nodes

9.2 Endpoint IOCs

• Unexpected Java commands executing OS-level operations
• Unusual modifications within OIM installation directories
• Newly dropped JAR files or shell scripts
• OIM server spawning cmd/sh processes

9.3 Identity IOCs

• Unapproved creation of privileged accounts
• Sudden policy assignment changes
• Privilege elevation outside normal workflow
• SSO/Federation logs showing anomalous assertion issuance

9.4 Cloud IOCs

• Creation of new OAuth apps or service principals
• Unusual SAML token activity
• Admin role assignment without ticket reference

10. 30-60-90 Day Defense Plan (CyberDudeBivash Method)

This plan ensures both rapid response and long-term resilience.

10.1 First 30 Days - Containment

• Patch Oracle Identity Manager immediately
• Audit all OIM access logs
• Force reauthentication for all admins
• Conduct memory forensics on affected servers

10.2 60 Days - Strengthening IAM Security

• Deploy ITDR (Identity Threat Detection & Response)
• Enable identity workflow monitoring
• Add behavioral analytics for privilege escalations
• Zero Trust enforcement for all identity operations

10.3 90 Days - Hardening the Identity Fabric

• Move OIM behind segmented network layers
• Integrate SIEM + EDR + ITDR unified alerts
• Adopt continuous identity posture management
• Implement real-time detection for federation anomalies

By 90 days, your identity layer becomes resilient even to 0-day and pre-auth RCE-level attacks.

11. FAQ - Oracle Identity Manager Pre-Auth RCE

Q: What makes CVE-2025-61757 so dangerous?
A: It allows unauthenticated attackers to execute remote code directly on Oracle Identity Manager servers without credentials, MFA, or tokens. This leads to total identity-layer compromise.

Q: Is this vulnerability being exploited right now?
A: Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog because active exploitation is confirmed across multiple organizations.

Q: What systems are at risk?
A: Any organization running vulnerable versions of Oracle Identity Manager exposed to the internet or internal threat actors.

Q: What is the impact if an attacker gains access?
A: Full identity takeover - creation of new admin users, theft of credentials, privilege escalation, and federation hijacking across cloud and SaaS.

Q: What is the immediate recommended action?
A: Patch immediately, restrict external access, enable WAF rules, analyze logs, rotate privileged credentials, and enable ITDR/identity anomaly monitoring.

Q: What logs should SOC teams focus on?
A: OIM workflow logs, admin creation logs, privileged events, federation token issuance, suspicious Java process activity, and unauthenticated POST requests.

Q: Can this lead to a supply-chain compromise?
A: Yes. Because OIM integrates with HR, ERP, CRM, SSO, and cloud platforms, a breach can propagate across connected business systems.

 Subscribe to ThreatWire Newsletter

Daily threat intel, CVEs, breaches, malware insights, and deep-dive reports - powered by CyberDudeBivash.

© 2025 CyberDudeBivash Pvt Ltd • cyberdudebivash.com • cyberbivash.blogspot.com • cryptobivash.code.blog • cyberdudebivash-news.blogspot.com

#CyberDudeBivash #CVE2025 #OracleIdentityManager #IdentitySecurity #ITDR #ZeroTrust #CISAAlerts #RCEFlaw #CybersecurityNews #SecOps #ThreatWire