CVE-2025-64513: Milvus Proxy has a Critical Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Should you act?

Critical and remotely reachable

No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
• EPSS 0.9%, percentile 58: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.9% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 58% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes github.com/milvus-io/milvus (Go) >= 0.10.4, < 2.4.24, fixed in 2.4.24; github.com/milvus-io/milvus (Go) >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.21, fixed in 2.5.21; github.com/milvus-io/milvus (Go) >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.5, fixed in 2.6.5; github.com/milvus-io/milvus (Go) < 0.10.3-0.20251107071934-6102f001a971, fixed in 0.10.3-0.20251107071934-6102f001a971. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

Milvus is an open-source vector database built for generative AI applications. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit a vulnerability in versions prior to 2.4.24, 2.5.21, and 2.6.5 to bypass all authentication mechanisms in the Milvus Proxy component, gaining full administrative access to the Milvus cluster. This grants the attacker the ability to read, modify, or delete data, and to perform privileged administrative operations such as database or collection management. This issue has been fixed in Milvus 2.4.24, 2.5.21, and 2.6.5. If immediate upgrade is not possible, a temporary mitigation can be applied by removing the sourceID header from all incoming requests at the gateway, API gateway, or load balancer level before they reach the Milvus Proxy. This prevents attackers from exploiting the authentication bypass behavior.

From the GitHub advisory

Impact What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted? An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability to bypass all authentication mechanisms in the Milvus Proxy component, gaining full administrative access to the Milvus cluster. This grants the attacker the ability to read, modify, or delete data, and to perform privileged administrative operations such as database or collection management. All users running affected Milvus versions are strongly advised to upgrade immediately.

Patches Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to? This issue has been fixed in the following versions: • Milvus 2.4.24 • Milvus 2.5.21 • Milvus 2.6.5

Users should upgrade to these patched versions or later to mitigate the vulnerability.

Workarounds Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading? If immediate upgrade is not possible, a temporary mitigation can be applied by removing the sourceID header from all incoming requests at the gateway, API gateway, or load balancer level before they reach the Milvus Proxy. This prevents attackers from exploiting the authentication bypass behavior.

References Are there any links users can visit to find out more?

Weakness type: CWE-287.

Product: github.com/milvus-io/milvus (Go) · Assigned by: GitHub_M · Published: 2025-11-10

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: low
• Attack requirements: none
• Privileges required: none (no login)
• User interaction: none

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none, automatable yes, technical impact total.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.87% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 58.

Timeline

• 2025-11-10 — CVE record published by GitHub_M
• 2025-11-12 — CVE record last updated
• 2025-11-13 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-mhjq-8c7m-3f7p published (critical)

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-mhjq-8c7m-3f7p github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2025-64513 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2025-64513 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. github.com github.com
2. github.com github.com
3. github.com github.com
4. github.com github.com
5. github.com github.com

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