CVE-2025-54389

AIDE is an advanced intrusion detection environment. Prior to version 0.19.2, there is an improper output neutralization vulnerability in AIDE. An attacker can craft a malicious filename by including terminal escape sequences to hide the addition or removal of the file from the report and/or tamper with the log output. A local user might exploit this to bypass the AIDE detection of malicious files. Additionally the output of extended attribute key names and symbolic links targets are also not properly neutralized. This issue has been patched in version 0.19.2. A workaround involves configuring AIDE to write the report output to a regular file, redirecting stdout to a regular file, or redirecting the log output written to stderr to a regular file.

Weakness

The product constructs a log message from external input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements when the message is written to a log file.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
• When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
• Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/268.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/81.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/93.html

References

• https://github.com/aide/aide/commit/64c8f32b0349c33fb8382784af468338078851f9
• https://github.com/aide/aide/releases/tag/v0.19.2
• https://github.com/aide/aide/security/advisories/GHSA-522j-vvx9-gg28
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/14/7
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/08/msg00011.html
• https://github.com/aide/aide/security/advisories/GHSA-522j-vvx9-gg28