Overview
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has identified a significant security flaw, CVE-2025-0073, involving the GPU Kernel Drivers produced by Arm Ltd. This vulnerability could potentially impact numerous devices powered by these drivers, including various embedded systems, smartphones, and tablets. The flaw, categorized as a Use After Free vulnerability, allows a local non-privileged user process to exploit the improper GPU memory processing operations to access already freed memory. The severity of this issue is underscored by its potential to compromise systems or leak sensitive data, hence necessitating immediate attention.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-0073
Severity: High (CVSS 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Arm Ltd Valhall GPU Kernel Driver | r53p0 to before r54p0
Arm Ltd Arm 5th Gen GPU Architecture Kernel Driver | r53p0 to before r54p0
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of a flaw in the GPU memory processing function within the Arm Ltd GPU Kernel Drivers. Specifically, it’s a Use After Free vulnerability, a type of memory corruption flaw that can occur when a program continues to use a pointer after it has been freed. In this instance, a non-privileged user process can manipulate the GPU memory processing operations to access memory that has already been freed. This access could potentially enable an attacker to execute arbitrary code, leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
The following pseudocode provides a conceptual understanding of how the exploit might be triggered:
// Assume p is a pointer to a memory block
int *p = malloc(10 * sizeof(int));
// The memory block is now freed
free(p);
// The program continues to use the pointer
*p = 123; // This triggers the Use After Free vulnerabilityIn the context of the CVE-2025-0073 vulnerability, a malicious process could manipulate operations similar to the one outlined above to gain unauthorized access to the GPU memory, leading to potentially serious consequences.
Mitigation Guidance
To protect against this vulnerability, users are strongly recommended to apply the vendor patch upon release. In the interim, users can use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation measure. Regularly updating your systems and applying patches promptly remains the best defense against such vulnerabilities.