CVE-2025-25201Improper Validation of Admin Key in PIV Smartcard
- 4.0MediumCVSS base score
- 0.14%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 96% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
Nitrokey 3 Firmware is the the firmware of Nitrokey 3 USB keys. For release 1.8.0, and test releases with PIV enabled prior to 1.8.0, the PIV application could accept invalid keys for authentication of the admin key. This could lead to compromise of the integrity of the data stored in the application. An attacker without access to the proper administration key would be able to generate new keys and overwrite certificates. Such an attacker would not be able to read-out or extract existing private data, nor would they be able to gain access to cryptographic operations that would normally require PIN-based authentication. The issue is fixed in piv-authenticator 0.3.9, and in Nitrokey's firmware 1.8.1.
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 9 days later
· 9 days later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium4.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Medium4.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.14% · top 96% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.0.
Affected products
Nitrokey · nitrokey-3-firmware
- affected = 1.8.0
References
References3
- https://github.com/Nitrokey/nitrokey-3-firmware/security/advisories/GHSA-jfhm-ppq8-7hgx (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/Nitrokey/nitrokey-3-firmware/releases/tag/v1.8.1 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.nitrokey.com/blog/2025/nitrokey-3-firmware-v181-security-update (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2025-4087 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2025-25201)Record last updated .