Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-2309

Memory Safety in Hdfgroup Hdf5 1.14.6

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
14 March 2025
Modified
28 May 2025
CVSS Score v4 4.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/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 0.0036 28th percentile
Risk Priority 26 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-2309 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Hdfgroup Hdf5. Its CVSS base score is 4.8 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 28th 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-2025-2309 is a critical heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability affecting HDF5 version 1.14.6, specifically in the H5T__bit_copy function of the Type Conversion Logic component. The issue, published on 2025-03-14, is linked to CWEs-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). Manipulation of the function triggers the overflow.

Local access is required for exploitation, targeting systems where an attacker has low privileges (PR:L). The attack has low complexity (AC:L) and needs no user interaction (UI:N), with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L). A successful exploit can lead to limited impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, potentially allowing partial data exposure, modification, or denial of service.

Advisories from VulDB indicate the exploit has been publicly disclosed, including a proof-of-concept on GitHub at https://github.com/madao123123/crash_report/blob/main/hdf5_poc/hdf5_poc3.md. The vendor plans to fix the issue in an upcoming release, but no patch is currently available. Practitioners should restrict local access, monitor for updates, and test applications using HDF5 1.14.6.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability has been found in HDF5 1.14.6 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function H5T__bit_copy of the component Type Conversion Logic. The manipulation leads to heap-based buffer overflow. Local access is required to approach this attack. The…

more

exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The vendor plans to fix this issue in an upcoming release.

CWE(s)
CWE-119CWE-122CWE-787

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.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-2915Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2912Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2308Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2310Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-6516Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2153Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2914Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2923Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-2924Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5
CVE-2025-7069Same product: Hdfgroup Hdf5

Affected Assets

hdfgroup
hdf5
1.14.6

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

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Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

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

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

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

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

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

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

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

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

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

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

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

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

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

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

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

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

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

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

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

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

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

References