Apache Roller Vulnerability Allows Hackers to Bypass Access Controls

A newly disclosed vulnerability in Apache Roller, the popular open-source blog server, could allow attackers to bypass critical access controls and retain unauthorized access to accounts even after password changes.

The flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-24859, was announced by the Apache Roller development team on Saturday, following a security report by researcher Haining Meng.

Vulnerability Details

The session management vulnerability impacts all versions of Apache Roller from 1.0.0 up to and including 6.1.4.

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When a user changes their password, whether through self-service or via an administrator, the application fails to invalidate existing session tokens.

As a result, active sessions remain valid and can still be used to access the account with the old session cookies.

This oversight means that if a malicious actor obtained access to a user’s session—via stolen cookies, phishing, or malware—they could continue to access the victim’s account even after the rightful owner had reset or changed their password.

In scenarios where users update passwords after a suspected breach, the vulnerability nullifies the primary defense, leaving accounts exposed to ongoing unauthorized use.

The Apache Software Foundation has categorized the issue as “important,” citing potential for compromised accounts to evade remediation actions. Affected deployments include all users running Roller versions before 6.1.5.

Given the nature of blogging platforms as publishing and collaboration tools, affected sites could be vulnerable to content tampering, data exfiltration, and reputational damage.

Mitigation and Fix

The Apache Roller team has addressed the flaw in version 6.1.5 by introducing centralized session management.

With this patch, any password change or account disable operation now results in the invalidation of all active sessions associated with that user.

Administrators and users are strongly advised to upgrade to version 6.1.5 immediately to secure their deployments.

For organizations unable to upgrade promptly, the team recommends regularly monitoring user session activities and advising users to log out and log back in after password changes as a temporary measure.

The vulnerability was responsibly disclosed by researcher Haining Meng, who identified the flaw and reported it to the Apache Roller team.

The swift response from the development community ensured a timely patch and public announcement via the project’s developer mailing list.

The discovery underscores the importance of rigorous session management in all web applications, especially those supporting user-generated content and multi-user collaboration.

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