CVE-2025-0254 - HCL Digital Experience Ring API & dxclient Vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attacks (MitM) Before 9.5 CF226

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What is CVE-2025-0254?

A new security flaw dubbed CVE-2025-0254 was found in certain components of HCL Digital Experience (DX). If you use the Ring API or the dxclient tool in versions before 9.5 CF226, your environment may be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. This means that someone could secretly intercept and possibly alter data traveling between two parties—like your app and the DX server.

Why Does This Matter?

Imagine you’re chatting with a friend over what you think is a secure line, but someone else is silently reading and even changing your messages. That’s what a MitM attack is like. When APIs or tools don’t use proper security measures, anyone on the same network (and sometimes even further away) could eavesdrop or mess with your information.

The Vulnerability Explained

Ring API and dxclient are used to interact with HCL Digital Experience for things like deploying content, managing users, and automation. Before release 9.5 CF226, these tools did not enforce secure, encrypted communication (like HTTPS with certificate validation).

You might be connecting over plain HTTP

- Or, even if HTTPS is used, the client might not properly check if it’s talking to the right server (no certificate validation).

If someone can get between your client and the server (for example, on public Wi-Fi or a compromised network), they can:

Suppose you’re using dxclient to push a CMS update

dxclient sync --src ./mychanges --profile myprofile

But dxclient isn’t validating the DX server’s SSL certificate. An attacker sets up a fake server on the network and uses a tool like mitmproxy or ettercap:

sudo mitmproxy --mode transparent --listen-port 808

You think you’re talking to your real DX server, but you’re actually sending your credentials and content to the attacker, who now:

Sends back fake responses (e.g., “Sync succeeded”)

- Could even push their own malicious code/content into your environment

Here’s how easy it is to sniff passwords if HTTPS is not enforced or not validated

# Save as mitm_sniffer.py
from mitmproxy import http

def request(flow: http.HTTPFlow) -> None:
    if "login" in flow.request.path:
        print("Intercepted login!")
        print("POST data:", flow.request.text)

Run this with mitmproxy to watch for plaintext or weakly protected login details.

What Should You Do?

1. Patch NOW!:
Update HCL Digital Experience to at least 9.5 CF226.
Official HCL Fix List – DX 9.5

2. Use Secure Channels:
Always use https:// endpoints with valid, trusted certificates.

3. Review Your dxclient and Scripts:

Check that all integrations enforce strict SSL certificate checking. Look for code options like

dxclient --insecure   # <-- BAD, DO NOT USE THIS OPTION!

or in scripts

requests.get(
    "https://yourdxserver/api/ring";,
    verify=False      # <-- This disables certificate checking!
)

Make sure verify=True or leave it as default.

4. Change Credentials:
If you suspect any exposure, rotate passwords and API keys.

Reference Links

- HCL Security Bulletin: CVE-2025-0254 – Digital Experience Ring API and MitM
- What is MitM? (Kaspersky)
- HCL Digital Experience 9.5 Cumulative Fixes

Final Notes

If you’re using HCL Digital Experience and haven’t updated yet, now’s the time. MitM attacks are surprisingly simple to perform and incredibly dangerous. Make sure all your automation and integration tools are running with strong security—never disable SSL checks for convenience.

Timeline

Published on: 03/20/2025 14:15:22 UTC
Last modified on: 03/20/2025 15:15:45 UTC