Overview
A severe vulnerability, dubbed CVE-2025-53557, has been identified in The Biosig Project libbiosig 3.9.0 and Master Branch (35a819fa). This flaw, a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability, could provide an attacker with the ability to execute arbitrary code on the system by merely delivering a maliciously crafted MFER file. As it impacts a widely utilized library, the vulnerability carries serious implications for various software and applications that make use of The Biosig Project libbiosig. The severity of this vulnerability coupled with its potential for widespread impact makes it a critical issue that merits immediate attention and remediation.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53557
Severity: Critical (9.8 CVSS)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
The Biosig Project libbiosig | 3.9.0 and Master Branch (35a819fa)
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability takes advantage of a flaw in the MFER parsing functionality of The Biosig Project libbiosig. By crafting a malicious MFER file, an attacker can cause a heap-based buffer overflow, which in turn allows for the execution of arbitrary code. This code execution could lead to a compromise of the system, along with the potential for data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability could be exploited. This pseudocode represents the crafting of a malicious MFER file that could trigger the vulnerability when parsed by the affected library.
# Pseudocode
malicious_file = open("malicious.mfer", "w")
buffer = "A" * 5000 # Buffer overflow with 5000 'A' characters
malicious_file.write(buffer)
malicious_file.close()In this example, a file named “malicious.mfer” is created and filled with a large number of ‘A’ characters. This large input causes a buffer overflow in the MFER parsing functionality, allowing the attacker to potentially execute arbitrary code.
Remember, the actual exploitation of this vulnerability would depend on the specific implementation of the affected library and the surrounding system environment.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. Until the patch can be applied, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure. It’s also recommended to limit the exposure of applications utilizing The Biosig Project libbiosig to untrusted networks wherever feasible.