CVE-2025-5100: A Double-free vulnerability leading to potential system compromise

Overview

The CVE-2025-5100 vulnerability is a severe memory corruption flaw that poses a significant risk to the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of systems. It affects a wide array of image processing applications and can be exploited by an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution.
This vulnerability matters because it can lead to potential system compromise or data leakage. The associated risk is high given the wide usage of image processing applications in various industries like media, technology, and security. The proactive mitigation of this vulnerability is essential to prevent catastrophic damage and to ensure the safe operation of affected systems.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-5100
Severity: High (8.0 CVSS)
Attack Vector: Remote
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System Compromise, Data Leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

ImageApp1 | 2.0 – 2.8
ImageApp2 | 3.0 – 3.5

How the Exploit Works

The CVE-2025-5100 exploit leverages a double-free condition that occurs during the cleanup process of temporary image files. This condition can cause memory corruption, which is a severe security flaw. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could manipulate the memory corruption to execute arbitrary code on the affected system. This could consequently lead to unauthorized access, potential system compromise, and data leakage.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:

# Attacker uploads a specially crafted image file
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: image/png" --data-binary @malicious.png http://target.example.com/upload
# The image is processed, triggering the double-free vulnerability
# The attacker leverages this to inject and execute arbitrary code

It’s important to note that the above is a conceptual example and the actual exploitation would depend on various factors, including the specifics of the affected system and the attacker’s capabilities.

Mitigation Guidance

The recommended mitigation strategy for the CVE-2025-5100 vulnerability is to apply the patch provided by the vendor as soon as it becomes available. Until then, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure. However, these do not eliminate the vulnerability but only make it harder to exploit.
Regular audits and security assessments should also be conducted to ensure that the mitigation measures are effective and to identify any new vulnerabilities that may arise. Always ensure that your systems are up-to-date and follow the best security practices to minimize the risk of exploitation.