Understanding the Recent OpenEMR Vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-25127, CVE-2026-25131, CVE-2026-25135, CVE-2026-25124)

What Is OpenEMR?

OpenEMR is a widely used open-source electronic health record (EHR) and practice management system. It handles:

• Patient records
• Billing
• Scheduling
• Messaging
• Orders and procedures
• Reporting

Because it’s open source and flexible, it’s deployed globally across small clinics and large healthcare setups. All the vulnerabilities discussed here affect versions prior to 8.0.0, and version 8.0.0 contains fixes for each.

CVE-2026-25127: Improper Permission Validation

Severity: High (CVSS 7.0)

The server did not properly validate user permissions, allowing unauthorized users to view information belonging to authorized users.

What Actually Happened?

This is a classic access control failure. The system relied on insufficient backend validation, meaning a user with limited privileges could access data they shouldn’t be able to see. Authorization checks were either incomplete or inconsistently enforced.

In healthcare software, that’s dangerous. Even viewing another user’s data without authorization can mean exposure of staff details, role-based configurations, or patient-related metadata.

CVE-2026-25131: Broken Access Control in Order Types Management

Severity: High (CVSS 8.8)

The affected endpoint is /openemr/interface/orders/types_edit.php. The core issue is that low-privilege users (e.g., Receptionist role) could add or modify procedure types.

What Went Wrong?

This vulnerability allowed role escalation within a specific functional area. A receptionist could create new procedure types or modify existing ones. While this might sound minor, procedure types influence clinical workflows, billing codes, insurance claims, and reporting.

This isn’t just about visibility. It’s about data integrity and operational correctness.

CVE-2026-25135: Information Disclosure via Export Scopes

Severity: Medium (CVSS 4.5)

Contact information for all users, organizations, and patients could be exposed under certain API scopes.

Important Context

This vulnerability requires confidential client setup and administrator approval. It depends on specific export scopes like system/(Group,Patient,*).$export and system/Location.read.

This is not an internet-wide exposure scenario. It’s more likely in server-to-server integrations or trusted client setups. However, over-permissioned API scopes can still lead to mass contact data export and privacy violations.

CVE-2026-25124: Unauthorized Export of Message List

Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.5)

Low-privileged users could export the full message list, which contains sensitive patient and user data, via message_list.php.

What Was Missing?

There was no proper permission check before executing sensitive database queries. The only safeguard was CSRF token verification. But CSRF protection does not equal authorization control. If a valid token is obtained, the export proceeds regardless of the user's role.

Message systems often contain clinical discussions and sensitive patient data. Allowing bulk extraction becomes trivial for someone with limited access.

Common Pattern: Broken Access Control

If you zoom out, there’s a clear theme: broken or incomplete access control. It’s not SQL injection or RCE, but authorization logic not being enforced. Historically, broken access control is one of the most common and damaging categories in web applications.

Recommendations

Upgrading to OpenEMR 8.0.0 addresses all of these issues. If you are running an earlier version, you should:

• Update Immediately: Move to version 8.0.0 or later.
• Audit User Roles: Ensure least-privilege principles are applied to all staff accounts.
• Review API Clients: Disable or restrict clients using vulnerable export scopes.
• Monitor Sensitive Exports: Log and alert on bulk export actions from administrative reporting tools.

References