CVE-2025-46713: Buffer Overflow Vulnerability in Sandboxie’s Memory Allocation Subsystem

Overview

Cybersecurity threats continue to pose significant risks, and the recent discovery of a severe vulnerability in Sandboxie, a popular sandbox-based isolation software, is no exception. This vulnerability, known as CVE-2025-46713, has the potential to compromise systems or leak sensitive data, impacting both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows NT-based operating systems. Understanding the nature of this vulnerability, its potential impacts, and how to mitigate it is crucial for all users and administrators of Sandboxie.
The importance of this vulnerability is underscored by its CVSS Severity Score of 7.8, indicating its high severity. The vulnerability is rooted in the software’s memory allocation subsystem, leading to a buffer overflow issue, which is a common and dangerous exploit that can allow malicious actors to execute arbitrary code.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-46713
Severity: High (CVSS score: 7.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Sandboxie | 0.0.1 to 1.15.11

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability stems from an arithmetic overflow deep within Sandboxie’s memory allocation subsystem. This overflow leads to a smaller allocation than requested, subsequently causing a buffer overflow. In essence, when the API_SET_SECURE_PARAM function is called, it incorrectly calculates the size of the memory to be allocated. This miscalculation can allow an attacker to overflow the buffer with data, potentially overwriting other memory areas, leading to unpredictable system behavior, crashes, or even allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code.

Conceptual Example Code

The following pseudocode demonstrates a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. It shows the overflow of the buffer due to the incorrect memory allocation.

# Malicious code to exploit the vulnerability
def exploit_vulnerability():
# Create an oversized payload
oversized_payload = "A" * 1000
# Call the vulnerable function with the oversized payload
API_SET_SECURE_PARAM(oversized_payload)
# Execute the exploit
exploit_vulnerability()

The oversized payload causes the buffer overflow when the vulnerable function is called, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.

Mitigation Guidance

To protect against this vulnerability, users are advised to update Sandboxie to version 1.15.12 or later, which contains a patch for this issue. If updating isn’t immediately feasible, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation, helping to detect and block potential exploit attempts. As always, maintaining an up-to-date system and following best security practices will significantly reduce the risk of falling prey to such vulnerabilities.