Overview
This report discusses the CVE-2025-54472 vulnerability, a severe flaw found in all versions of Apache bRPC before 1.14.1. This vulnerability allows attackers to cause a denial-of-service attack by crashing the service. It notably affects those using bRPC as a Redis server to provide network services to untrusted clients or using bRPC as a Redis client to call untrusted Redis services. The severity of this vulnerability underscores the need for immediate remediation.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-54472
Severity: High (CVSS: 7.5)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
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Product | Affected Versions
Apache bRPC | < 1.14.1 How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies within the bRPC Redis protocol parser code, which allocates memory for arrays or strings based on integers read from the network. If an unusually large integer is read, it may trigger a bad alloc error, leading to a program crash. An attacker can manipulate this weakness by sending specially crafted data packets to the bRPC service, instigating a denial-of-service attack. The 1.14.0 version attempted a fix by limiting memory allocation size, but due to an integer overflow in the limit checking code, this version remains vulnerable.
Conceptual Example Code
While this is not real code, it serves as a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited, by sending a large size value (e.g., 9999999999) as part of a Redis command:
POST /brpc/redis/command HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/redis
*3\r\n$3\r\nSET\r\n$10\r\nmykey\r\n$9999999999\r\nmyvalue\r\nThe above example would cause the server to attempt to allocate an exorbitant amount of memory, leading to a crash.
Possible Mitigations
Two primary mitigation steps are recommended:
1. Upgrade Apache bRPC to version 1.14.1. This latest version includes a patch that addresses the vulnerability.
2. Alternatively, apply the patch manually as provided here: https://github.com/apache/brpc/pull/3050.
In either case, the patch limits the maximum length of memory allocated each time in the bRPC Redis parser to a default of 64MB. If your Redis request or response exceeds this size, you might encounter an error after the upgrade. Adjust the `redis_max_allocation_size` gflag to a larger limit if necessary.
As a temporary solution, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can help prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.
