Critical severity · published Sep 10, 2025
CVE-2025-54123
Hoverfly vulnerable to remote code execution at `/api/v2/hoverfly/middleware` endpoint due to insecure middleware implementation
9.8
CVSS
10.9%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Hoverfly is an open source API simulation tool. In versions 1.11.3 and prior, the middleware functionality in Hoverfly is vulnerable to command injection vulnerability at `/api/v2/hoverfly/middleware` endpoint due to insufficient validation and sanitization in user input. The vulnerability exists in the middleware management API endpoint `/api/v2/hoverfly/middleware`. This issue is born due to combination of three code level flaws: Insufficient Input Validation in middleware.go line 94-96; Unsafe Command Execution in local_middleware.go line 14-19; and Immediate Execution During Testing in hoverfly_service.go line 173. This allows an attacker to gain remote code execution (RCE) on any system running the vulnerable Hoverfly service. Since the input is directly passed to system commands without proper checks, an attacker can upload a malicious payload or directly execute arbitrary commands (including reverse shells) on the host server with the privileges of the Hoverfly process. Commit 17e60a9bc78826deb4b782dca1c1abd3dbe60d40 in version 1.12.0 disables the set middleware API by default, and subsequent changes to documentation make users aware of the security changes of exposing the set middleware API.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)10.9% · higher than 96% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
HO
hoverfly · SpectoLabs
<= 1.11.3 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54123
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-54123
Product
https://github.com/SpectoLabs/hoverfly/blob/master/core/hoverfly_service.go#L173
Product
https://github.com/SpectoLabs/hoverfly/blob/master/core/middleware/local_middleware.go#L13
Product
https://github.com/SpectoLabs/hoverfly/blob/master/core/middleware/middleware.go#L93
Patch
https://github.com/SpectoLabs/hoverfly/commit/17e60a9bc78826deb4b782dca1c1abd3dbe60d40
Patch
https://github.com/SpectoLabs/hoverfly/commit/a9d4da7bd7269651f54542ab790d0c613d568d3e
Exploit
https://github.com/SpectoLabs/hoverfly/security/advisories/GHSA-r4h8-hfp2-ggmf
More from hoverfly
7.5
CVE-2026-50013
Hoverfly: Process Crash via Concurrent Map Write Race Condition in Diff Mode
7.5
CVE-2025-54376
Hoverfly's WebSocket endpoint `/api/v2/ws/logs` reachable without authentication even when --auth is enabled.
7.5
CVE-2024-45388
Arbitrary file read in the `/api/v2/simulation` endpoint in hoverfly (`GHSL-2023-274`)
6.5
CVE-2026-50018
Hoverfly: Denial of Service via Goroutine Leak in Remote Post-Serve Actions
