CVE-2025-24816: Nokia MantaRay API Authorization Bypass – Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Technical summary

CVE-2025-24816 is an improper access control vulnerability (CWE-284) in Nokia MantaRay's API layer. The vulnerability stems from insufficient authorization enforcement, allowing authenticated attackers to bypass privilege boundaries and retrieve confidential information. The attack vector is network-based, requires valid authentication credentials, and involves no user interaction. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity) with high confidentiality impact, no integrity or availability impact, and affects the API's authorization architecture rather than the underlying platform.

Business impact

Unauthorized access to confidential information can expose sensitive business data, customer records, or operational intelligence. For organizations deploying MantaRay, this vulnerability could result in data leakage, regulatory compliance violations (depending on data classification and jurisdiction), and reputational damage. The risk is elevated in multi-tenant or shared environments where cross-tenant data exposure is possible. However, because exploitation requires valid credentials and does not enable data modification or denial of service, the direct operational impact is constrained to information disclosure.

Affected systems

Nokia MantaRay (product identifier: nokia_mantaray_nm) is affected. Organizations using this platform, particularly those with multiple user accounts or role-based access controls, should assess their exposure. The vulnerability affects all authenticated users who may be able to escalate their view into restricted data. Customers should verify the exact affected versions by consulting Nokia's advisory and their own deployment inventory.

Exploitability

Exploitation requires an attacker to first obtain valid authentication credentials to the MantaRay API. Once authenticated, the authorization flaw allows retrieval of data outside the attacker's assigned privileges without additional circumvention techniques. The attack is straightforward to execute and could be automated. However, the requirement for pre-existing credentials limits the attack surface compared to unauthenticated vulnerabilities. This is not currently tracked in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, indicating no evidence of active exploitation in the wild at publication time.

Remediation

Apply the security patch released by Nokia for CVE-2025-24816 as soon as possible. Verify the patched version number against Nokia's official advisory. In the interim, implement compensating controls: restrict API access to trusted networks, enforce strong role-based access control (RBAC) policies, audit API access logs for anomalous queries, and monitor for lateral data access patterns. Consider temporarily reducing the scope of confidential information accessible through APIs until the patch is deployed.

Patch guidance

Nokia has released a security update to address this vulnerability. Obtain the patched version from Nokia's support portal or vendor advisory. Test the patch in a non-production environment to ensure compatibility with your deployment. Prioritize patching for systems with high data sensitivity or multi-user access patterns. Schedule patching during a maintenance window to minimize disruption. After patching, validate that authorization controls are enforced correctly by testing cross-user access restrictions.

Detection guidance

Monitor API audit logs for authenticated requests that retrieve data outside the requestor's assigned role or department. Look for unusual query patterns, repeated access to high-sensitivity endpoints, or cross-user data retrieval attempts. Implement API gateway logging to capture request headers, user identifiers, and response sizes. Alert on any API calls that return confidential data to users not explicitly assigned to that data category. Review MantaRay access logs for anomalies in the weeks following the advisory publication to identify potential exploitation.

Why prioritize this

This vulnerability should be prioritized for patching within 30–60 days due to its moderate severity score, the requirement for valid credentials limiting immediate attack surface, and the absence of active exploitation. However, organizations handling highly sensitive data (financial records, personal information, trade secrets) should accelerate patching to the 1–2 week timeline. The straightforward nature of the exploit once credentials are obtained justifies faster remediation in higher-risk environments.

Risk score, explained

The CVSS 6.5 (MEDIUM) score reflects high confidentiality impact balanced against the requirement for prior authentication. The network-accessible API and low attack complexity increase the score, but the lack of integrity or availability impact and the need for valid credentials prevent a higher rating. In contexts where credential compromise is common or where exposed data is highly sensitive, the real-world risk may exceed the base score.

Frequently asked questions