Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
SuiteCRM could leave old password reset links valid after a user is deleted. If a new account later receives the same internal user ID, that old reset link could take over the new account. This is serious for organizations using affected SuiteCRM versions, especially where accounts are deleted and recreated.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority for any internet-accessible or business-critical SuiteCRM deployment. The business risk is unauthorized CRM account access, which can expose customer data and disrupt operations.
Technical view
CVE-2021-25961 is a CWE-640 flaw in SuiteCRM password reset handling. Versions 7.1.7 through 7.10.31 and 7.11-beta through 7.11.20 did not properly invalidate reset links tied to deleted user IDs, enabling takeover of a newly created user with the reused ID.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to SuiteCRM deployments in the listed 7.1.7-7.10.31 or 7.11-beta-7.11.20 ranges that allow password resets and have user deletion or recreation workflows.
Exploitation context
The CVE is not listed as KEV, and the provided sources do not claim active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates network reachability, low complexity, low privileges required, and user interaction required.
Researcher notes
The core issue is stale password reset state surviving user deletion and becoming valid again through internal ID reuse. Evidence is strong for affected ranges and patch references, but the bundle does not provide exploit prevalence or detailed fixed release notes.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade affected SuiteCRM instances to a vendor-supported release outside the vulnerable ranges.
- Review SuiteCRM vendor guidance and referenced patch commits before production rollout.
- Invalidate outstanding password reset links where operationally supported.
- Avoid deleting and recreating users with recycled identifiers until patched.
- Monitor account creation, deletion, and password reset activity for anomalies.
Validation and detection
- Inventory SuiteCRM versions and compare them with the affected version ranges.
- Confirm deployed code includes the vendor fixes referenced in the source bundle.
- Review logs for reset requests involving deleted users or newly recreated accounts.
- Check whether reset-token invalidation behaves correctly after user deletion.
- Prioritize testing around password reset, user deletion, and account recreation workflows.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-640: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-25961 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.15.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2021-25961CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/salesagility/SuiteCRM/commit/7124482fe07ee164923d974456ed31e45f65e513CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/salesagility/SuiteCRM/commit/f463031bee59676d7d5be53bb32d551cd70a5648CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password
Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.