# CVE-2025-40552: Web Help Desk - Authentication Bypass

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2025-40552 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2025-40552

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 9.8
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** SolarWinds Web Help Desk
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-1390 (Weak Authentication)
- **Tags:** enterprise_software, management_panel

## Description

SolarWinds Web Help Desk was found to be susceptible to an authentication bypass vulnerability that if exploited, would allow a malicious actor to execute actions and methods that should be protected by authentication.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2025-40552](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2025-40552) is a critical authentication bypass in SolarWinds Web Help Desk: access controls on some WebObjects application methods are not enforced, so an unauthenticated remote attacker can execute actions and methods reserved for authenticated users, a path to remote code execution when chained with the other flaws fixed in WHD 2026.1.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 27th of February 2026.

CrowdSec has not observed any significant exploitation activity targeting CVE-2025-40552 across its network. As a result, no community-driven trend analysis is available for this vulnerability at this time.

Attackers request protected WebObjects pages directly through the `wopage` parameter of the Web Help Desk application to reach sensitive functions without authenticating.

## Timeline

- 2026-01-28: CVE Published. CVE-2025-40552 is published to NVD.
- 2026-02-27: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2025-40552 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2026-09-28: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2025-40552 for the first time.

## References

- https://github.com/watchtowrlabs/watchTowr-vs-SolarWinds-WebHelpDesk-CVE-2025-40552-CVE-2025-40553/blob/main/watchTowr-vs-SolarWinds-WebHelpDesk-CVE-2025-40552-CVE-2025-40553.py
- https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/whd/content/release_notes/whd_2026-1_release_notes.htm
- https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/CVE-2025-40552

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2025-40552) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2025-40552. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.