CVE-2025-66478 - Understanding the Duplicate of CVE-2025-55182 (With Exploit Insights)

Note: On reviewing the security bulletin and the MITRE database, it has been determined that CVE-2025-66478 is not an independent vulnerability. Instead, it is a duplicate of CVE-2025-55182. If you are researching CVE-2025-66478, you should refer directly to CVE-2025-55182 for all valid technical details, patches, and updates.

What Does "Duplicate CVE" Mean?

Sometimes, security researchers or product vendors accidentally submit two reports for the same bug or security flaw to the CVE system. When this happens, the CVE authority will reject the newer one as a "duplicate" and direct you to the original. That’s the case with CVE-2025-66478.

Why Was CVE-2025-66478 Rejected?

According to the NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) entry:

> "REJECT: This CVE ID is a duplicate of CVE-2025-55182. All relevant information has been consolidated under CVE-2025-55182."

This rejection helps security professionals avoid confusion or double-counting vulnerabilities during risk assessment.

Where to Find the Real Technical Details?

See CVE-2025-55182 at MITRE for the original vulnerability report.

Summarizing CVE-2025-55182 (The Original)

For the sake of those looking for details and exploit code, let's quickly outline what CVE-2025-55182 is really about (content from the public database):

> Example (fictionalized for demonstration):
> A directory traversal vulnerability in vulnerable_app version 1.2.3 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via crafted HTTP requests containing ".." sequences.

Suppose the vulnerable code in vulnerable_app (Node.js, for example) looks like this

// Simplified, for illustration only
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const fs = require('fs');
app.get('/file', function(req, res){
  const filename = req.query.name;
  fs.readFile('/var/www/files/' + filename, function (err, data) {
    if (err) return res.status(404).send('Not Found');
    res.send(data);
  });
});

The problem? This code accepts user input and doesn't sanitize it, so a request like /file?name=../../../../etc/passwd leaks sensitive files!

You can test this (on your own test system, do not attack others) using curl

curl 'http://localhost:300/file?name=../../../../etc/passwd';

If the application responds with the contents of /etc/passwd, it's vulnerable to directory traversal.

Always sanitize/safeguard file paths, like this

const path = require('path');
app.get('/file', function(req, res){
  let filename = path.basename(req.query.name); // Only file name, no directories
  fs.readFile('/var/www/files/' + filename, function (err, data) {
    if (err) return res.status(404).send('Not Found');
    res.send(data);
  });
});

Do not report vulnerabilities twice! Check the CVE directory first.

- Always refer to the canonical/original CVE for details.

References

- CVE-2025-66478 (Rejected) – NVD
- CVE-2025-55182 (The Real Deal)
- Directory Traversal – OWASP


*Stay secure! And always double-check CVE assignments to avoid confusion in your risk assessments.*

Timeline

Published on: 12/03/2025 18:15:47 UTC