Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-2757

Memory Safety in Assimp 5.4.3

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
25 March 2025
Modified
17 July 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 0.0050 40th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-2757 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 40th 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.

A critical heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability, designated CVE-2025-2757, affects Open Asset Import Library (Assimp) version 5.4.3. The issue resides in the AI_MD5_PARSE_STRING_IN_QUOTATION function within the file code/AssetLib/MD5/MD5Parser.cpp, part of the MD5 File Handler component. Manipulation of the argument data triggers the overflow, as classified under CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) and CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow). The vulnerability 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 was published on 2025-03-25.

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely without privileges by tricking users into processing malicious input, such as a specially crafted MD5 file, due to the requirement for user interaction. Successful exploitation enables limited impacts: low confidentiality (partial disclosure of sensitive data), low integrity (minor modification of data), and low availability (partial denial of service via crash or resource consumption).

Advisories and discussions, including GitHub issues at https://github.com/assimp/assimp/issues/6019 and https://github.com/assimp/assimp/issues/6019#issue-2877376386, along with VulDB entries at https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.300862, https://vuldb.com/?id.300862, and https://vuldb.com/?submit.517817, provide details on the flaw. The exploit has been publicly disclosed and may be available for use, though specific patch status or mitigation steps are outlined in these references.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Open Asset Import Library Assimp 5.4.3. This vulnerability affects the function AI_MD5_PARSE_STRING_IN_QUOTATION of the file code/AssetLib/MD5/MD5Parser.cpp of the component MD5 File Handler. The manipulation of the argument data leads to heap-based buffer…

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

CWE(s)
CWE-119CWE-122

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 →
T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
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-2025-6120Same 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
CVE-2025-11277Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-3158Same product: Assimp Assimp
CVE-2025-2756Same 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

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-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 none match
none

Change management ensures controlled deployment of fixes for discovered heap-overflow vulnerabilities.

References