Overview
CVE-2025-53518 is a critical vulnerability found in The Biosig Project libbiosig 3.9.0 and Master Branch (35a819fa). This vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code, potentially resulting in a full system compromise or data leakage. It is particularly concerning due to its high CVSS severity score of 9.8, indicating its severe impact and the ease of exploit. Given the widespread use of libbiosig in bioinformatics and related fields, anyone using the affected versions of the software could be a potential victim. This necessitates an immediate response from both users and system administrators to apply mitigations and patches.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53518
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 9.8)
Attack Vector: Malicious ABF file
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required (User must open the malicious file)
Impact: Arbitrary code execution, potential system compromise, or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
The Biosig Project libbiosig | 3.9.0, Master Branch (35a819fa)
How the Exploit Works
The exploit works by taking advantage of an integer overflow vulnerability in the ABF parsing functionality of the affected versions of libbiosig. An attacker crafts a malicious ABF file that, when processed by the application, triggers the integer overflow. This overflow can lead to a buffer overflow, where the excess data can overwrite other data structures in memory. An attacker can use this to inject and execute arbitrary code.
Conceptual Example Code
This is a conceptual example of how an attacker might craft a malicious ABF file to exploit the vulnerability. The attacker crafts an ABF file with a specially designed header that causes an integer overflow when parsed, potentially leading to a buffer overflow.
// Malicious ABF file crafted to cause an integer overflow
struct ABFFileHeader {
int fileVersion; // Set to a large integer to cause overflow
// ...
};After crafting the malicious file, the attacker then sends it to the victim. If the victim opens the file using the affected version of libbiosig, the integer overflow vulnerability is triggered, leading to arbitrary code execution.
Please note that this is a conceptual example and the actual implementation of the exploit might be more complex and would require deep knowledge of the libbiosig’s code base and ABF file format. The purpose of this example is to illustrate the nature of the vulnerability, not to provide a practical guide for exploitation.