BSI flags Netgate pfSense Community Edition as critical-unpatched — CVE-2025-69690 / CVE-2025-69691 authenticated root RCE, vendor refuses to fix
BSI published WID-SEC-2026-1435 on 2026-05-08 rating two authenticated remote code execution vulnerabilities in Netgate pfSense Community Edition as kritisch and explicitly UNGEPATCHT in the BSI advisory feed (BSI WID-SEC-2026-1435, 2026-05-08). CVE-2025-69691 (CVSS 9.9) affects pfSense CE 2.8.0: the XMLRPC API endpoint /xmlrpc.php exposes the pfsense.exec_php method, which executes arbitrary PHP as root when invoked with any Basic Auth credentials — including default admin passwords on Internet-exposed deployments (Full Disclosure, 2026-02-16; cve.news analysis of CVE-2025-69691, 2026-05-08). CVE-2025-69690 (CVSS 8.8) affects pfSense CE 2.7.2 via unsafe deserialization in the configuration backup/restore path — uploading a crafted backup containing a serialized PHP object with a malicious post_reboot_commands property yields root RCE on restore (same primary disclosure thread).
Netgate's position, restated in the Full Disclosure thread, is that both behaviours are expected for authenticated administrators and that no patch will be issued. BSI taking a national-CERT position on the unpatched state three months after researcher disclosure is the in-window signal: this elevates pfSense CE from "vendor accepts behaviour" to "EU national authority recommends mitigation." pfSense Community Edition is licence-free and commonly deployed at the perimeter of Swiss cantonal, municipal, healthcare, education and SME networks where commercial pfSense+ subscriptions are out of reach. The pfSense+ commercial product is reportedly not affected by the same code paths.
Why it matters to us: Treat any Internet-exposed pfSense CE management interface (HTTPS web GUI, XMLRPC endpoint, SSH) as a credential-theft single-point-of-failure rather than a hardened control plane. Block the XMLRPC interface at the network level for any CE 2.8.0 deployment that cannot disable it administratively, restrict the web GUI to a management VLAN, rotate any admin passwords that ever traversed unencrypted networks, and audit system.xml for unexplained post_reboot_commands entries (CVE-2025-69690 persistence indicator). Because exploitation requires existing admin credentials, the operative attack chain is T1078 Valid Accounts (after credential theft) → T1059.004 Unix Shell; for an Internet-exposed management plane, T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application remains the framing for the initial brute-force / credential-stuffing pivot.
ATT&CK mapping
4 techniques mapped from the cited reporting · MITRE ATT&CK v19.2
Initial Access TA0001
T1078Valid Accounts
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop. Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network. Adversaries may choose not to use malware or tools in conjunction with the legitimate access those credentials provide to make it harder to detect their presence.
T1190Exploit Public-Facing Application
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network. The weakness in the system can be a software bug, a temporary glitch, or a misconfiguration.
Execution TA0002
T1059Command and Scripting Interpreter
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries. These interfaces and languages provide ways of interacting with computer systems and are a common feature across many different platforms. Most systems come with some built-in command-line interface and scripting capabilities, for example, macOS and Linux distributions include some flavor of Unix Shell while Windows installations include the Windows Command Shell and PowerShell.
T1059.004Command and Scripting Interpreter: Unix Shell
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution. Unix shells are the primary command prompt on Linux, macOS, and ESXi systems, though many variations of the Unix shell exist (e.g. sh, ash, bash, zsh, etc.) depending on the specific OS or distribution. Unix shells can control every aspect of a system, with certain commands requiring elevated privileges.
Persistence TA0003
T1078Valid Accounts
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop. Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network. Adversaries may choose not to use malware or tools in conjunction with the legitimate access those credentials provide to make it harder to detect their presence.
Privilege Escalation TA0004
T1078Valid Accounts
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop. Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network. Adversaries may choose not to use malware or tools in conjunction with the legitimate access those credentials provide to make it harder to detect their presence.
Stealth TA0005
T1078Valid Accounts
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion. Compromised credentials may be used to bypass access controls placed on various resources on systems within the network and may even be used for persistent access to remote systems and externally available services, such as VPNs, Outlook Web Access, network devices, and remote desktop. Compromised credentials may also grant an adversary increased privilege to specific systems or access to restricted areas of the network. Adversaries may choose not to use malware or tools in conjunction with the legitimate access those credentials provide to make it harder to detect their presence.
Sources
AI-generated · no human review · this permalink is the shareable record for the finding · verify operationally critical claims against the linked primary source.