{"id":64116,"date":"2025-08-17T08:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T08:38:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:30:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:30:27","slug":"cve-2025-54878-heap-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-nasa-cryptolib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54878-heap-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-nasa-cryptolib\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-54878: Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability in NASA CryptoLib<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The discovery of the CVE-2025-54878 vulnerability has raised concerns about the security of the communication between spacecrafts and ground stations. This vulnerability exists in NASA CryptoLib, a software solution that secures these communications using the CCSDS Space Data Link Security Protocol &#8211; Extended Procedures (SDLS-EP). The implications of this flaw are far-reaching, potentially affecting not only NASA&#8217;s internal operations, but also its numerous global collaborations and partnerships.<br \/>\nThis vulnerability is particularly significant due to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49691-heap-based-buffer-overflow-in-windows-media-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"72088\">potential for system<\/a> compromise and data leakage, which could result in significant mission disruptions and potential national security risks. Considering the high stakes of space exploration and research, it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43275-critical-race-condition-vulnerability-in-macos\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"71660\">critical that this vulnerability<\/a> is promptly addressed and mitigated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-54878<br \/>\nSeverity: High (8.6 CVSS score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Remote<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <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=\"74939\">Potential system compromise or data<\/a> leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3971492268\" 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: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\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: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\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: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>NASA CryptoLib | 1.4.0 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-55010-arbitrary-php-object-instantiation-in-kanboard-prior-to-version-1-2-47\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77942\">prior versions<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8901-high-severity-out-of-bounds-write-vulnerability-in-angle-google-chrome\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78827\">vulnerability arises from a lack of bounds<\/a> checks when the Initialization Vector (IV) is copied into a new buffer during the setup of telecommand frames. This oversight can allow an attacker to craft a telecommand frame that causes the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-44952-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-pfcp-library-of-open5gs-due-to-missing-length-check\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78372\">library to write a byte beyond the allocated buffer<\/a>. This action results in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8576-chrome-extension-heap-corruption-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74979\">heap corruption<\/a> and triggers undefined behaviour.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8011-high-severity-heap-corruption-vulnerability-in-google-chrome-v8\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"75623\">Heap corruption<\/a> can manifest in different ways, including a system crash that results in denial-of-service, or even more severe forms of exploitation. If an attacker successfully exploits this vulnerability, they could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-21466-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74980\">potentially compromise the entire system<\/a> or cause data leaks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3983500453\" 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>In a real-world scenario, an attacker could manipulate the telecommand frames transmitted between the spacecraft and the ground station. Although the actual exploit would be highly complex and specific to the CryptoLib software, a conceptual example could look like this:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">def craft_malicious_frame():\nbuffer_size = get_buffer_size()\ncrafted_iv = &quot;A&quot; * (buffer_size + 1)  # One byte more than the buffer can handle\ncrafted_frame = Frame(initialization_vector=crafted_iv)\nreturn crafted_frame\nmalicious_frame = craft_malicious_frame()\ntransmit_frame(malicious_frame)<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this conceptual example, an attacker creates a frame with an initialization vector (IV) that is longer than the buffer can handle. When this frame is transmitted, it results in writing one byte past the buffer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32451-memory-corruption-vulnerability-in-foxit-reader-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74432\">leading to heap corruption<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The discovery of the CVE-2025-54878 vulnerability has raised concerns about the security of the communication between spacecrafts and ground stations. This vulnerability exists in NASA CryptoLib, a software solution that secures these communications using the CCSDS Space Data Link Security Protocol &#8211; Extended Procedures (SDLS-EP). The implications of this flaw are far-reaching, potentially affecting [&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":[86],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-64116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-buffer-overflow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64116","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=64116"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71214,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64116\/revisions\/71214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=64116"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=64116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}