{"id":59641,"date":"2025-07-25T20:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:16:17","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-07T05:37:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:37:52","slug":"cve-2025-47917-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-mbed-tls-potentially-leading-to-system-compromise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47917-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-mbed-tls-potentially-leading-to-system-compromise\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-47917: Use-After-Free Vulnerability in Mbed TLS Potentially Leading to System Compromise<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this post, we delve into the details of a critical vulnerability dubbed CVE-2025-47917, which poses a significant risk to applications developed in accordance with the Mbed TLS documentation before version 3.6.4. This vulnerability possesses the capability to compromise systems and leak confidential data, making it a matter of grave concern for developers, administrators, and organizations alike.<br \/>\nThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47998-severe-heap-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-windows-routing-and-remote-access-service\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"67861\">vulnerability is of particular concern due to its severity<\/a> and the widespread usage of Mbed TLS in various applications. As businesses increasingly adopt digital solutions and cloud-based services, ensuring the security of such applications becomes paramount to prevent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27050-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise-and-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74745\">potential attacks and data<\/a> breaches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-47917<br \/>\nSeverity: High (8.9 CVSS score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-45346-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-bacula-web-resulting-in-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"67858\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-858267531\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52496-race-condition-in-mbed-tls-library-leads-to-potential-aes-key-extraction\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"76146\">Mbed TLS<\/a> | Before 3.6.4<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The CVE-2025-47917 vulnerability stems from a use-after-free situation in certain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50738-memos-application-vulnerability-allows-for-unauthorized-user-information-disclosure\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69644\">Mbed TLS<\/a> applications developed in accordance with the documentation. The function mbedtls_x509_string_to_names() takes an argument documented as an output argument. The function, however, calls mbedtls_asn1_free_named_data_list() on that argument, which performs a deep free() operation.<br \/>\nThis sequence of events <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-25214-race-condition-vulnerability-in-wwbn-avideo-14-4-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"67860\">leads to a situation where the application code<\/a>, which uses this function relying on documented behavior, still holds pointers to the memory blocks that were freed. This can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-23105-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-samsung-mobile-processors-exynos-2200-2400-and-1480-leading-to-privilege-escalation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"71090\">lead to a high risk of use-after-free<\/a> or double-free situations, particularly in the two sample programs x509\/cert_write and x509\/cert_req. If the san string contains more than one DN, a use-after-free situation occurs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1007396621\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Here is a conceptual example that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49526-out-of-bounds-write-vulnerability-in-illustrator-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"75134\">illustrates how the vulnerability<\/a> might be exploited. This is a simplified version and actual exploitation could be more complex:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">#include &quot;mbedtls\/x509.h&quot;\nint main() {\nmbedtls_x509_name *name;\nchar *san = &quot;CN=example.com, CN=malicious.com&quot;;\n\/\/ This call frees the memory pointed by &#039;name&#039;\nmbedtls_x509_string_to_names(&amp;name, san);\n\/\/ &#039;name&#039; is now a dangling pointer\n\/\/ Any access or modification to &#039;name&#039; here may result in undefined behavior\n\/\/ Exploits can manipulate this to take advantage or corrupt the system\nreturn 0;\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49688-double-free-vulnerability-in-windows-rras-opens-door-for-unauthorized-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"67859\">code shows that the vulnerability<\/a> lies in the fact that the function mbedtls_x509_string_to_names() frees the memory pointed to by &#8216;name&#8217;, leaving it as a dangling pointer. Any subsequent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-53763-improper-access-control-in-azure-databricks-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79790\">access to &#8216;name&#8217; could lead<\/a> to undefined behavior, which could be exploited by malicious actors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview In this post, we delve into the details of a critical vulnerability dubbed CVE-2025-47917, which poses a significant risk to applications developed in accordance with the Mbed TLS documentation before version 3.6.4. This vulnerability possesses the capability to compromise systems and leak confidential data, making it a matter of grave concern for developers, administrators, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-59641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59641"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72225,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59641\/revisions\/72225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=59641"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=59641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}