HAX CMS API Lacks Authorization Checks
Date: 2025-07
Affected: composer/elmsln/haxcms, npm/@haxtheweb/haxcms-nodejs
Attack vector: auth-bypass
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: High
CVE: CVE-2025-54378
CWE: CWE-285
CWE-862
CVSS: 8.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H)

### Summary The HAX CMS API endpoints do not perform authorization checks when interacting with a resource. Both the JS and PHP versions of the CMS do not verify that a user has permission to interact with a resource before performing a given operation. ### Details The API endpoints within the HAX CMS application check if a user is authenticated, but don't check for authorization before performing an operation. #### Affected Resources - [Operations.php: 760](https://github.com/haxtheweb/haxcms-php/blob/b158d8ba1f9602af92ab084fd03b418f953079fd/system/backend/php/lib/Operations.php#L760) `createNode()` - [Operations.php: 868](https://github.com/haxtheweb/haxcms-php/blob/b158d8ba1f9602af92ab084fd03b418f953079fd/system/backend/php/lib/Operations.php#L868) `saveNode()` - [Operations.php: 1171](https://github.com/haxtheweb/haxcms-php/blob/b158d8ba1f9602af92ab084fd03b418f953079fd/system/backend/php/lib/Operations.php#L1171) `deleteNode()` - [Operations.php: 1789](https://github.com/haxtheweb/haxcms-php/blob/b158d8ba1f9602af92ab084fd03b418f953079fd/system/backend/php/lib/Operations.php#L1789) `listSites()` - [Operations.php: 1890](https://github.com/haxtheweb/haxcms-php/blob/b158d8ba1f9602af92ab084fd03b418f953079fd/system/backend/php/lib/Operations.php#L1890) `createSite()` - [Operations.php: 2196](https://github.com/haxtheweb/haxcms-php/blob/b158d8ba1f9602af92ab084fd03b418f953079fd/system/backend/php/lib/Operations.php#L2195) `getConfig()` - [Operations.php: 2389](https://githu


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):