CVE-2025-30420: Memory Corruption Vulnerability in NI Circuit Design Suite

Overview

CVE-2025-30420 is a serious vulnerability that affects users of the NI Circuit Design Suite, specifically version 14.3.0 and prior. This vulnerability is due to a memory corruption issue that could lead to an out of bounds read in the Bitmap::InternalDraw() function when interacting with the SymbolEditor of the suite. The exploitation of this vulnerability could result in unauthorized information disclosure or arbitrary code execution.
This vulnerability is significant as the NI Circuit Design Suite is widely used in the electronics industry for designing, testing, and troubleshooting electrical circuits. Successful exploitation could lead to a potential system compromise or data leakage, which could have severe consequences for the affected organization.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-30420
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local File
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

NI Circuit Design Suite | 14.3.0 and prior versions

How the Exploit Works

The exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to open a specially crafted .sym file. The memory corruption occurs due to an out of bounds read in the Bitmap::InternalDraw() function when using the SymbolEditor of the NI Circuit Design Suite. This corruption leads to the potential for information disclosure or arbitrary code execution.

Conceptual Example Code

Here’s a hypothetical example of how an attacker might use this vulnerability. Note that this is a conceptual illustration and not actual exploit code:

// Assumed .sym file structure
SymFile maliciousSymFile = new SymFile();
// Crafting the malicious bitmap data
Bitmap maliciousBitmapData = new Bitmap();
maliciousBitmapData.overflowData("arbitrary data to trigger out of bounds read");
// Embedding the malicious bitmap data into the .sym file
maliciousSymFile.embedBitmap(maliciousBitmapData);
// The .sym file is then saved and sent to the victim
maliciousSymFile.save("malicious.sym");

In this scenario, the attacker creates a .sym file with embedded malicious bitmap data designed to trigger an out of bounds read. The crafted file is then sent to the victim, who opens it with the SymbolEditor, triggering the exploit.

Mitigation

Users of the affected versions of NI Circuit Design Suite are advised to apply the vendor-supplied patch as soon as possible. As a temporary mitigation, Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) or Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) can be used to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. However, this is only a stop-gap measure and does not remove the vulnerability from the system. For full remediation, the patch should be applied.