On November 11, 2025, SAP issued a security update patching a severe flaw in SQL Anywhere Monitor (non-GUI version), tracked as CVE-2025-42890. The vulnerability stemmed from hard-coded credentials embedded in the monitoring tool, a major security misstep given the level of access the monitor holds.
Because the flaw earned a CVSS severity score of 10.0 (maximum), SAP and security researchers flagged it as critical, a must-patch for all affected environments.
What Happened
SQL Anywhere Monitor is used to oversee and manage distributed or remote databases. The non-GUI variant (likely deployed in headless or automated appliances) was shipped with a built-in default credential embedded directly inside the code, that granted privileged access to the monitoring database. This “baked-in” credential was never meant for external exposure.
With those credentials easily available to any attacker who discovers them, threat actors could potentially connect to the monitoring database remotely, even without prior authentication as a legitimate user. Once inside, the risk wasn’t just limited to viewing data: the flaw allowed arbitrary code execution. In other words, attackers could gain full control over the system, compromise data integrity, and potentially pivot into internal networks.
Given that many organizations deploy SQL Anywhere across critical systems, sometimes in unattended environments, such a vulnerability posed a high-stakes risk.
How It Happened
The root cause was surprisingly low-tech: default credentials hard-coded inside the application code, never intended for public or high-security deployment. Specifically:
- The credentials were embedded in a Java class inside migrator.jar, used by Monitor’s non-GUI version to connect to its internal database.
- Because the monitor shipped ready-to-use, with pre-configured database files and no requirement for administrators to change credentials, many deployments remained vulnerable for an extended period.
- The vulnerability allowed remote, unauthenticated access over the network. An attacker just needed to know the default credentials and reach the service to exploit it.
In response to the security advisory, SAP removed the pre-configured monitoring database and the hard-coded credentials in the patched version. As a result, running instances are no longer inherently vulnerable, assuming administrators applied the update or removed the vulnerable Monitor entirely.
What Was at Risk
By exploiting the hardcoded credentials flaw, attackers could have done the following:
- Gain unauthorized access to monitoring systems and database internals
- Execute arbitrary code, effectively compromising the host system
- Disrupt database monitoring, data integrity, and availability
- Use the compromised monitor as a foothold to lateral-move within network environments
- Exfiltrate sensitive data, tamper with stored records, or sabotage backups — with minimal detection
Given the severity, any organization relying on SQL Anywhere Monitor (non-GUI) faced a real threat to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their database environments.
What Organizations Should Do
- Immediately apply SAP’s November 2025 update that patches CVE-2025-42890, or remove SQL Anywhere Monitor if not required.
- Audit existing deployments, search for any instances of the vulnerable Monitor, especially on unattended appliances or legacy systems.
- Restrict network access to monitoring services until patched, block public access and limit to internal trusted networks.
- Rotate credentials and secrets if the default credentials were ever used or exposed.
- Review logs and audit trails for any suspicious connections to the monitor, especially attempts prior to patching, and investigate for possible unauthorized activity.
- Adopt a policy of no embedded credentials, enforce secret management, avoid shipping credentials in code or binaries, and require per-deployment credential configuration.
How NHI Mgmt Group Can Help
Incidents like this underscore a critical truth, Non-Human Identities (NHIs) are now at the center of modern cyber risk. OAuth tokens, credentials, service accounts, and AI-driven integrations act as trusted entities inside your environment, yet they’re often the weakest link when it comes to visibility and control.
At NHI Mgmt Group, we specialize in helping organizations understand, secure, and govern their non-human identities across cloud, SaaS, and hybrid environments. Our advisory services are grounded in a risk-based methodology that drives measurable improvements in security, operational alignment, and long-term program sustainability.
We also offer the NHI Foundation Level Training Course, the world’s first structured course dedicated to Non-Human Identity Security. This course gives you the knowledge to detect, prevent, and mitigate NHI risks.
If your organization uses third-party integrations, AI agents, or machine credentials, this training isn’t optional; it’s essential.
Conclusion
This flaw in SQL Anywhere Monitor highlights a broader, often overlooked issue: many monitoring, admin, or support tools use default or hard-coded credentials under the assumption of “internal use only”. Once deployed, especially on network-connected appliances, those assumptions break down quickly and become a major risk vector.
In modern enterprise environments, non-human and machine identities, like service accounts, database monitors, automation agents, demand as much care and governance as human users. A single “backdoor” credential in an admin tool can compromise entire systems.
Therefore, simply relying on vendor defaults and internal trust is no longer enough. Organizations must treat every identity, human or not, as a potential entry point and enforce proper credential lifecycle management, segmentation, and least-privilege principles.
