CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-29911

Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Published: Mar 17, 2025 | Modified: Mar 18, 2025
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

CryptoLib provides a software-only solution using the CCSDS Space Data Link Security Protocol - Extended Procedures (SDLS-EP) to secure communications between a spacecraft running the core Flight System (cFS) and a ground station. A critical heap buffer overflow vulnerability was identified in the Crypto_AOS_ProcessSecurity function of CryptoLib versions 1.3.3 and prior. This vulnerability allows an attacker to trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) or potentially execute arbitrary code (RCE) by providing a maliciously crafted AOS frame with an insufficient length. The vulnerability lies in the function Crypto_AOS_ProcessSecurity, specifically during the processing of the Frame Error Control Field (FECF). The affected code attempts to read from the p_ingest buffer at indices current_managed_parameters_struct.max_frame_size - 2 and current_managed_parameters_struct.max_frame_size - 1 without verifying if len_ingest is sufficiently large. This leads to a heap buffer overflow when len_ingest is smaller than max_frame_size. As of time of publication, no known patched versions exist.

Weakness 

A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().

Potential Mitigations 

  • Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
  • D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
  • Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
  • Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
  • For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].

References