{"id":87066,"date":"2026-06-07T18:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T18:24:59","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"cve-2025-56301-privilege-state-corruption-and-exception-handling-flaw-in-chipsalliance-rocket-chip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-56301-privilege-state-corruption-and-exception-handling-flaw-in-chipsalliance-rocket-chip\/","title":{"rendered":"CVE-2025-56301: Privilege State Corruption and Exception Handling Flaw in Chipsalliance Rocket-Chip<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-56301 is a critical issue discovered in the Chipsalliance Rocket-Chip. The flaw allows bad actors to corrupt exception handling and privilege state transitions. This vulnerability poses a significant threat to any system running affected versions of the Rocket-Chip, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n

Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

CVE ID: CVE-2025-56301
\nSeverity: High (CVSS: 7.5)
\nAttack Vector: Local
\nPrivileges Required: Low
\nUser Interaction: None
\nImpact: System compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n

Affected Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n

Chipsalliance Rocket-Chip | Versions prior to commit f517abbf41abb65cea37421d3559f9739efd00a9 (2025-01-29)<\/p>\n

How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vulnerability arises from a flawed interaction between exception handling and exception return (MRET) mechanisms in the Control and Status Register (CSR) logic. When an MRET instruction is executed in machine mode without being in an exception state, an Instruction Access Fault may be triggered. This results in both the exception handling logic and the exception return logic activating simultaneously, leading to conflicting updates to the control and status registers. Consequently, this flaw can be exploited by an attacker to corrupt exception handling and privilege state transitions.<\/p>\n

Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following pseudocode demonstrates how the vulnerability could be exploited:<\/p>\n

\/\/ Enter machine mode without being in an exception state\nenterMachineMode();\n\/\/ Execute MRET instruction\nexecuteMRET();\n\/\/ The above triggers an Instruction Access Fault, activating both\n\/\/ the exception handling logic and the exception return logic simultaneously<\/code><\/pre>\n
The above steps result in conflicting updates to the control and status registers, thereby corrupting exception handling and privilege state transitions. An attacker could potentially utilize this flaw to compromise the system or leak data.<\/p>\n
Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n
Users are advised to apply the vendor patch immediately once available. In the meantime, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Overview The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-56301 is a critical issue discovered in the Chipsalliance Rocket-Chip. The flaw allows bad actors to corrupt exception handling and privilege state transitions. This vulnerability poses a significant threat to any system running affected versions of the Rocket-Chip, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage. Vulnerability Summary CVE ID: […]<\/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,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-87066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t