Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-2152

Memory Safety in Assimp 5.4.3

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
10 March 2025
Modified
13 March 2025
CVSS Score v4 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0052 42th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-2152 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Assimp Assimp. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 42th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-2152 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability classified as critical in the Open Asset Import Library (Assimp) version 5.4.3. The issue resides in the Assimp::BaseImporter::ConvertToUTF8 function within the BaseImporter.cpp file, part of the File Handler component. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L) and is associated with CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer), CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), and CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write).

Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability by manipulating inputs to the affected function, requiring user interaction such as opening a specially crafted file in an application that uses Assimp for asset import. Successful exploitation could result in limited impacts: low confidentiality (C:L), integrity (I:L), and availability (A:L) effects, potentially allowing partial data exposure, modification, or denial of service via the heap overflow. No privileges are needed, and the attack complexity is low, though it depends on tricking users into processing malicious files.

Advisories and details are documented in GitHub issues at https://github.com/assimp/assimp/issues/6027 and https://github.com/assimp/assimp/issues/6027#issue-2877629241, as well as VulDB entries at https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.299063, https://vuldb.com/?id.299063, and https://vuldb.com/?submit.510818. Security practitioners should consult these sources for any patches or workarounds.

The vulnerability was published on 2025-03-10, and the exploit has been publicly disclosed, making it available for potential use by attackers.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Open Asset Import Library Assimp 5.4.3. This issue affects the function Assimp::BaseImporter::ConvertToUTF8 of the file BaseImporter.cpp of the component File Handler. The manipulation leads to heap-based buffer overflow. The…

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attack may be initiated remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-2750Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-3196Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-2151Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-6120Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-2754Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-3159Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-2592Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-3549Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-3548Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-11275Same product: Assimp Assimp

Affected Assets

assimp
assimp
5.4.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.

Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

Secure engineering principles require memory-safe design and coding that structurally avoids buffer-boundary violations.

Memory protection restricts exploitation impact of buffer overflows without eliminating the underlying coding flaw.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 full match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References