CVE-2025-43570: Use After Free Vulnerability in Substance3D – Stager

Overview

The cybersecurity world is currently dealing with an alarming vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-43570. This flaw lies within Substance3D – Stager versions 3.1.1 and earlier, and could potentially lead to unauthorized arbitrary code execution. The exploitation of this vulnerability, if successful, could result in the compromise of a system or a data leak. This presents a significant threat to users and organizations that utilize the affected software, as it allows malicious actors to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-43570
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Local
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Substance3D – Stager | 3.1.1 and earlier

How the Exploit Works

The CVE-2025-43570 vulnerability is a Use After Free (UAF) type of vulnerability. In this case, a specific object in memory is prematurely freed, but later, a malicious file is processed which still references this deallocated memory. This allows an attacker to exploit this condition to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.

Conceptual Example Code

To understand this vulnerability, consider the following conceptual example. This is not an actual exploit code but a simplified representation of how the attack would take place:

// A simplified conceptual representation of the UAF vulnerability
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main() {
char* pointer = (char*) malloc(10); // allocate memory
free(pointer); // free the memory prematurely
// A malicious file could overwrite the freed memory with arbitrary code
pointer = "malicious_code";
// The program then accesses the freed memory
printf("%s\n", pointer); // arbitrary code execution
}

In this example, after the memory pointed by `pointer` is freed, a malicious file overwrites it with arbitrary code. When the program attempts to access the freed memory, it inadvertently executes the malicious code.

How to Mitigate

The best way to mitigate this vulnerability is by applying a vendor patch. In case the patch is not immediately available, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can help protect your system temporarily. It is crucial to note that these are only temporary measures, and a permanent fix should be applied as soon as it becomes available from the vendor. In the meantime, it is also recommended not to open files from untrusted or unknown sources to prevent potential exploitation.