Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities

Critical Security Vulnerability in Looker: CVE-2025-12739 Requires Immediate Patching

Overview

A significant security vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-12739, has been discovered in Looker, affecting both Looker-hosted and self-hosted instances. This vulnerability allows an attacker with viewer permissions to potentially execute arbitrary code on the Looker instance by crafting a malicious URL. The attacker needs a Looker admin to open this URL, and for successful exploitation, at least one Looker extension needs to be installed on the instance. This poses a substantial risk to data security and system integrity.

Important: This issue has already been mitigated for Looker-hosted instances. No user action is required for these.

Technical Details

CVE-2025-12739 allows a low-privilege user (viewer) to potentially inject and execute arbitrary code. The attack vector involves crafting a malicious URL that, when accessed by a Looker administrator, triggers the execution of an attacker-supplied script. This is possible when at least one Looker extension is installed on the instance. The specific mechanism involves a weakness in how Looker processes URL parameters, leading to unintended code execution when a privileged user interacts with the crafted URL.

CVSS Analysis

Due to the specific nature of the vulnerability and the requirement for admin interaction, a CVSS score is currently unavailable (N/A). However, given the potential for remote code execution, the severity is considered high.

Possible Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-12739 could have severe consequences, including:

  • Data Breach: An attacker could gain unauthorized access to sensitive data stored within the Looker instance.
  • System Compromise: The attacker could potentially compromise the entire Looker server, leading to further malicious activities.
  • Privilege Escalation: The attacker could elevate their privileges within the Looker system.
  • Data Manipulation: The attacker could modify or delete critical data, disrupting business operations.

Mitigation and Patch Steps

For Self-Hosted Looker Instances: Immediate action is required. Upgrade your Looker instance to one of the patched versions listed below. This vulnerability has been patched in all supported versions of Self-hosted.

The following versions have been updated to protect against this vulnerability:

  • 24.18.201+
  • 25.0.79+
  • 25.6.66+
  • 25.12.7+
  • 25.16.0+
  • 25.18.0+
  • 25.20.0+

You can download the latest patched versions from the official Looker download page: https://download.looker.com/

References

Published: 2025-11-24T10:15:59.567

Cybersecurity specialist and founder of Gowri Shankar Infosec - a professional blog dedicated to sharing actionable insights on cybersecurity, data protection, server administration, and compliance frameworks including SOC 2, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

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