SAP S/4HANA CVE-2025-42957 Critical Vulnerability Analysis: Exploitation in the Wild, Impact, and Mitigation Strategies

Executive Summary

This advisory report provides an in-depth analysis of the critical CVE-2025-42957 vulnerability affecting SAP S/4HANA systems and its exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability, which originates from a flaw in handling Remote Function Call (RFC) requests within the SAP S/4HANA environment, permits an attacker with legitimate user credentials to inject and execute arbitrary ABAP code. This report is designed to empower technical teams and executive leadership with a comprehensive understanding of the threat landscape, an analysis of the adversaries’ tactics and methodologies, detailed exploitation scenarios, potential victim profiles, and the tactical countermeasures recommended to mitigate risk. Advanced technical terminology is explained in a format accessible to decision-makers while maintaining a high level of technical depth suitable for cybersecurity professionals.

Threat Actor Profile

The actors targeting CVE-2025-42957 are sophisticated threat groups who are increasingly focusing on high-value enterprise resources and internal supply chains. These adversaries are often nation-state-sponsored or aligned with advanced persistent threat (APT) groups with a history of targeting critical infrastructure and enterprise resource planning systems. Their tactics include exploiting vulnerabilities in the widely used SAP S/4HANA environment to gain lateral movement within corporate networks. The perpetrators make use of reconnaissance, social engineering, and precise exploitation methods that demonstrate a deep understanding of enterprise environments. They employ techniques that leverage initial access vectors such as compromised credentials, misconfigured access controls, and network exposure of critical services like RFC interfaces. Their modus operandi is characterized by an advanced understanding of system vulnerabilities, allowing for the injection of malicious code and subsequent extraction of sensitive corporate data. These threat actors incorporate elements of automated attack scripts combined with manual adjustments, ensuring that each attack is stealthy, persistent, and adaptable to the defenses in place. In addition, intelligence suggests that these groups frequently adapt emerging tactics from frameworks such as the MITRE ATT&CK, thereby enhancing their operational capabilities through continuous evolution.

Technical Analysis of Malware/TTPs

The technical analysis of CVE-2025-42957 reveals that the vulnerability primarily arises from a critical flaw in the way RFC function modules are handled within SAP S/4HANA environments. This issue permits an attacker to inject arbitrary ABAP code by exploiting inadequate input validation and lack of robust authentication measures during the processing of external requests. The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 9.9, reflecting its severity and the potential impact on enterprise environments if left unaddressed. In technical detail, attackers have demonstrated the ability to misuse the RFC service as an entry point into the vulnerable system. By manipulating function module parameters, these threat actors can introduce code that escalates privileges and bypasses security controls, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data and system functionalities. The Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) employed in this exploitation are sophisticated and align closely with established threat frameworks. The attackers utilize techniques that involve initial remote access through compromised or unsecured RFC services, followed by lateral movement and privilege escalation through the injection of malicious ABAP code. The exploitation process is highly automated, but it also includes manual steps to modify signatures and bypass pattern recognition systems, ensuring that standard detection mechanisms are rendered less effective. In some instances, proof-of-concept code has been adapted and circulated in underground communities, aiding less skilled adversaries in replicating the exploitation method. This adaptability contributes significantly to the rapid spread and replication of the exploit across numerous enterprise environments. Moreover, the inherent design flaw in the RFC processing routine is compounded by misconfigurations in network segmentation and access controls, which further amplify the vulnerability’s exploitability. Routine security practices are often insufficient to mitigate the risks, thereby necessitating advanced and layered security measures. The complexity of the attack vectors and the tactical use of legitimate application processes complicate the efforts of defensive teams, which must now develop bespoke strategies to detect, isolate, and remediate malicious activity.

Exploitation in the Wild

The exploitation of CVE-2025-42957 in the wild has been confirmed by multiple cybersecurity research teams and intelligence reports. Threat actors are actively leveraging this vulnerability against enterprises that utilize SAP S/4HANA as their central ERP solution. Reports from several independent cybersecurity entities indicate that attackers have tailored their exploits to focus on environments where RFC services are exposed to external networks and where stringent authentication protocols are not uniformly enforced. The exploitation procedure involves an initial scan for vulnerable systems by deploying automated tools that identify potential targets based on network configurations and service availability. Once a vulnerable system is identified, adversaries use modified versions of public proof-of-concept code that exploits the vulnerability to inject malicious ABAP commands. The injected code facilitates unauthorized remote execution, which in turn provides attackers with the capacity to alter critical system settings and exfiltrate confidential data. This exploit often results in escalation of privileges, enabling the attackers to navigate laterally within the internal network and compromise additional assets. The persistence of this vulnerability is greatly augmented by the attackers’ ability to conceal their actions within legitimate system operations, making detection by conventional logging systems particularly challenging. In many observed incidents, standard security controls such as anomaly detection and intrusion prevention systems were evaded because the attack leveraged inherent system functionalities. The exploitation is further compounded by well-orchestrated timing strategies, where attackers synchronize their maneuvers with periods of low administrative activity or during scheduled maintenance windows when monitoring may be less rigorous. These sophisticated operational procedures underscore the urgency of immediate patching and heightened monitoring for systems running SAP S/4HANA. The real-world exploitation of this critical vulnerability not only disrupts daily operations but also introduces severe risks related to data integrity, confidentiality, and overall network stability. Organizations are thus compelled to reassess their security postures and implement advanced countermeasures to protect against this evolving threat.

Victimology and Targeting

Victim profiles associated with the exploitation of CVE-2025-42957 predominantly include large-scale enterprises and government organizations that rely heavily on SAP S/4HANA for their business operations. These targets are selected primarily due to the critical nature of the ERP systems in managing financial transactions, supply chain operations, and other essential corporate functions. The targeting strategy by threat actors is sophisticated, focusing on entities that may have overlooked secure configurations for RFC services or have weak network segregation policies. Organizations with complex and distributed infrastructures are particularly at risk as they often present a larger attack surface. In these environments, the exploitation of CVE-2025-42957 can serve as a gateway to compromise multiple interconnected systems, potentially leading to widespread operational disruptions. The exploitation strategy involves careful reconnaissance to identify systems with misconfigured access controls, and the subsequent injection of malicious code into primarily trusted applications. The victimology extends beyond typical financial sectors and includes healthcare, manufacturing, and public administration where the integrity of data and system performance is of paramount importance. Adversaries intentionally choose targets with high-value assets and sensitive information that can yield significant financial or political gain. The impact of such intrusions is multifaceted, affecting not only operational continuity but also compromising data security and eroding trust in enterprise resource planning platforms. In addition, many of these organizations operate under regulatory frameworks that mandate strict compliance with data protection and cybersecurity standards, creating further challenges when remediation becomes necessary. The resulting reputational damage, coupled with potential regulatory fines and remediation costs, underscores the urgency of addressing this critical vulnerability.

Mitigation and Countermeasures

Mitigation of the risks associated with CVE-2025-42957 requires immediate and layered security interventions combined with a strategic overhaul of access management. The foremost countermeasure is the immediate application of the security patch released by SAP, specifically detailed in the security advisory corresponding to the August 2025 SAP Security Patch Day. Organizations are strongly advised to verify the patch compatibility with their SAP S/4HANA environments and apply the update without delay. In addition to patch management, security teams should conduct an extensive review of their RFC access configurations to ensure that only authenticated and pre-approved networks are permitted to interact with these services. This involves configuring strong access controls, integrating advanced logging, and implementing continuous real-time monitoring systems that are capable of detecting abnormal ABAP command execution. Another critical mitigation strategy is the segmentation of the network to isolate SAP S/4HANA systems from exposure to external networks. Enterprises must enforce strict firewall policies that restrict access to essential functions only and evaluate the necessity of exposing critical services to public networks. It is also recommended that organizations leverage intrusion detection and prevention systems that can correlate threat intelligence feeds with anomalous network behaviors, thereby enabling earlier detection of malicious activities related to RFC exploitation. Furthermore, organizations can benefit from conducting regular audits and security assessments that focus on validating the integrity of ABAP code execution and identifying potential misconfigurations in RFC module permissions. Incident response plans should be reviewed and updated to ensure that escalation protocols are in place for detecting, isolating, and mitigating suspicious activities. Managed security service providers and in-house security operations centers can benefit from an integrated approach that combines adversary simulation techniques with continuous threat monitoring. Advanced analytical tools that are capable of deep packet inspection and behavioral analysis can complement existing security frameworks, ensuring that potential exploit attempts are identified promptly. Ultimately, a coordinated approach that includes immediate patching, robust access control enforcement, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring is essential to mitigating the risks associated with CVE-2025-42957.

References

This advisory report draws on a compilation of reputable cybersecurity sources including the National Vulnerability Database, security advisories released by SAP, detailed technical breakdowns on community cybersecurity blogs, and additional exploit discussion forums. Specific references include the NVD details for CVE-2025-42957 available on the NIST website, the SAP Security Patch Day advisory for August 2025, comprehensive analysis provided by experts on the SecurityBridge Blog, and corroborative exploit reports available from Help Net Security. The report additionally takes into account the extensive documentation and analysis provided by the MITRE ATT&CK framework, which details the tactical methods and attack vectors employed by adversaries targeting critical vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-42957. All information has been meticulously scraped from well-regarded, publicly available cybersecurity resources to present an accurate and actionable analysis for our clients.

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