CVE-2025-47270
Published: 12 May 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-47270 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 21.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-47270 affects the nimiq-network-libp2p subcrate within nimiq/core-rs-albatross, a Rust implementation of the Nimiq Proof-of-Stake protocol. The vulnerability is an uncontrolled memory allocation (CWE-400) in the handling of Discovery network messages: the code reads a length value supplied by a remote peer and allocates a receive buffer of that size without any upper bound, allowing a u32 value to trigger allocations up to 4 GB and resulting in memory exhaustion or node crashes.
Any remote peer on the libp2p network can exploit the flaw simply by sending a crafted Discovery message containing an oversized length field. Because these messages are exchanged routinely during peer discovery, an attacker can trigger the condition repeatedly without authentication, producing a denial-of-service condition that disrupts node availability.
The official patch, released in version 1.1.0, caps Discovery messages at 1 MB and changes buffer allocation to grow incrementally while data is read. The corresponding GitHub advisory and commit confirm that no workarounds exist and recommend upgrading to the patched release. The associated EPSS score has remained flat at 0.0109 with no material increase since disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-14335
Vulnerability details
nimiq/core-rs-albatross is a Rust implementation of the Nimiq Proof-of-Stake protocol based on the Albatross consensus algorithm. The `nimiq-network-libp2p` subcrate of nimiq/core-rs-albatross is vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack due to uncontrolled memory allocation. Specifically, the implementation of the…
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`Discovery` network message handling allocates a buffer based on a length value provided by the peer, without enforcing an upper bound. Since this length is a `u32`, a peer can trigger allocations of up to 4 GB, potentially leading to memory exhaustion and node crashes. As Discovery messages are regularly exchanged for peer discovery, this vulnerability can be exploited repeatedly. The patch for this vulnerability is formally released as part of v1.1.0. The patch implements a limit to the discovery message size of 1 MB and also resizes the message buffer size incrementally as the data is read. No known workarounds are available.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Limiting concurrent sessions directly prevents uncontrolled resource consumption by capping the number of active sessions per user or account.
Analysis identifies uncontrolled resource consumption indicative of denial-of-service or abuse attempts.
Contingency plan testing includes resource exhaustion scenarios to verify recovery, making it harder for attackers to sustain exploits that cause uncontrolled consumption.
Updated contingency plans include current procedures to detect, contain, and recover from resource exhaustion, limiting an attacker's ability to sustain impact from uncontrolled consumption.
Alternate site allows resumption of operations if resource exhaustion at the primary site is exploited to cause unavailability.
Alternate telecommunications services enable resumption of essential functions when primary services become unavailable due to uncontrolled resource consumption.
The team can analyze and respond to resource exhaustion incidents, reducing the impact of attacks that exploit uncontrolled consumption weaknesses.
Timely maintenance support and spare parts enable rapid recovery from failures induced by uncontrolled resource consumption, shortening the impact window of denial-of-service attacks.