CVE-2021-32648

October CMS, a content management system built on the Laravel PHP framework, contains an improper authentication flaw (CWE-287) in its october/system package: an attacker can initiate a password reset for any account and then submit a specially crafted request that bypasses the reset-code check, gaining access to that account without knowing the current password. The flaw is network-exploitable with no privileges or user interaction required (CVSS 3.1: 9.1, critical), and takeover of a back-end administrator account would grant the attacker full control of the CMS's content, users, and configuration. Any October CMS deployment running october/system versions prior to Build 472 or v1.1.5 is affected. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added CVE-2021-32648 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 2022-01-18 as part of a batch of 17 added flaws, requiring patching per vendor instructions, and EPSS assigns a 90.4% probability of exploitation within 30 days (100th percentile). CISA lists ransomware use as unknown, and no public proof-of-concept exploit is known.

What to do: Update October CMS to Build 472 or v1.1.5 (or later) following the vendor's update instructions; because the flaw is in CISA's KEV, patching is required for federal agencies. Organizations that cannot patch immediately should restrict network access to the CMS back end and audit recent password-reset requests, back-end logins, and account modifications for signs of takeover, rotating credentials for any accounts with unexpected resets.