CVE-2025-23016
Published: 10 January 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-23016 is a critical-severity Integer Overflow or Wraparound (CWE-190) vulnerability in Synacktiv (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 33.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-23016 is an integer overflow vulnerability in FastCGI fcgi2 (also known as fcgi), affecting versions 2.x through 2.4.4. The flaw occurs in the ReadParams function within fcgiapp.c, where crafted nameLen or valueLen values in data sent to the IPC socket trigger an integer overflow, leading to a heap-based buffer overflow. This issue is classified under CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.3 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A local attacker with no privileges required can exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted data to the affected IPC socket. Successful exploitation could result in high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, including potential remote code execution due to the heap-based buffer overflow and the changed scope (S:C) in the CVSS vector.
Mitigation guidance from advisories includes updating to fcgi2 version 2.4.5, as indicated in the project's GitHub release. Additional details are available in the GitHub issue tracker, OSS-security mailing list announcement, Synacktiv's exploitation publication, and Debian LTS security advisory, which address patching for affected distributions.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-3075
Vulnerability details
FastCGI fcgi2 (aka fcgi) 2.x through 2.4.4 has an integer overflow (and resultant heap-based buffer overflow) via crafted nameLen or valueLen values in data to the IPC socket. This occurs in ReadParams in fcgiapp.c.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Integer overflow in ReadParams triggers heap buffer overflow enabling local unauthenticated RCE on FastCGI IPC, directly mapping to exploitation for privilege escalation.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires timely remediation of known software flaws like the integer overflow in fcgi2's ReadParams function by patching to version 2.4.5.
Mandates validation of information inputs such as crafted nameLen and valueLen values received over the IPC socket to prevent integer overflows.
Implements memory protections like heap overflow safeguards to block unauthorized code execution from the resultant heap-based buffer overflow.