Case bodysnatcher-servicenowAgent hijackUnited States
BodySnatcher: unauthenticated impersonation via ServiceNow Virtual Agent (CVE-2025-12420)
AppOmni found an attacker with only an employee email could impersonate that user via ServiceNow's Virtual Agent API and drive Now Assist agents to create admin users, bypassing MFA and SSO. Patched October 2025.
CriticalAttack on AIStatus: PatchedVerified case file
Open in the interactive mapCite this case
- Reported
- Jan 21, 2026
- Location
- United States
- Target
- ServiceNow Now Assist AI Agents and Virtual Agent API
- Severity
- Critical
- Triggered by
- AppOmni Labs
- Actor type
- Security researchers
- Reported loss
- None reported
- CVE
- CVE-2025-12420
What happened
AppOmni found an attacker with only an employee email could impersonate that user via ServiceNow's Virtual Agent API and drive Now Assist agents to create admin users, bypassing MFA and SSO. Patched October 2025.
Impact: Potential full takeover of enterprise ServiceNow instances; no public evidence of exploitation before patching
Who triggered it
Actor: AppOmni Labs
Attribution: Responsible disclosure to ServiceNow in October 2025; CVSS 9.3
Motive: Security research
How it happened
Attack vector: Broken authentication in the Virtual Agent API allowed unauthenticated conversations attributed to another user, which were then used to trigger privileged AI agent workflows
Root cause: Virtual Agent API did not verify the identity of the conversation initiator before letting AI agents act with that user's entitlements
Timeline
- AppOmni discovers and reports BodySnatcher
- ServiceNow deploys security updates to hosted instances
- CVE-2025-12420 and AppOmni write-up published
Response
ServiceNow patched hosted instances and published fixed versions for self-hosted customers (KB2587329)
Current status: Patched
Sources (open in a new tab)
- Ampcus Cyber (AppOmni summary) ampcuscyber.com
- SecurityBrief UK securitybrief.co.uk
- TechInformed techinformed.com
Cite this case
BodySnatcher: unauthenticated impersonation via ServiceNow Virtual Agent (CVE-2025-12420). AI Threat Watch, case bodysnatcher-servicenow, Jan 21, 2026. https://aithreat.io/cases/bodysnatcher-servicenow/
Permanent link: https://aithreat.io/cases/bodysnatcher-servicenow/