Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-53085

Memory Safety in Sail 0.9.8

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
25 August 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0074 51th percentile
Risk Priority 65 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-53085 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Sail Sail. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 49% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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-2025-53085 is a memory corruption vulnerability in the PSD RLE Decoding functionality of the SAIL Image Decoding Library version 0.9.8. The issue arises during decompression of image data from a specially crafted .psd file, triggering a heap-based buffer overflow (CWE-122) that can enable remote code execution. Published on 2025-08-25, it affects applications or systems that incorporate this library for handling PSD files.

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability over a network with low complexity and no required privileges, though user interaction is necessary to convince a victim to process the malicious .psd file. Successful exploitation grants high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability effects (CVSS v3.1 base score: 8.8; AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), allowing arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected application.

The primary advisory from Talos Intelligence (TALOS-2025-2219) provides further technical details at https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2025-2219. No specific patches or mitigations are detailed in the available information.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A memory corruption vulnerability exists in the PSD RLE Decoding functionality of the SAIL Image Decoding Library v0.9.8. When decompressing the image data from a specially crafted .psd file, a heap-based buffer overflow can occur which allows for remote code…

more

execution. An attacker will need to convince the library to read a file to trigger this vulnerability.

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.
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-2025-35984Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2025-50129Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2026-27168Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2025-53510Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2025-52930Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2025-46407Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2025-32468Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2025-52456Same product: Sail Sail
CVE-2024-29982Shared CWE-122
CVE-2024-49011Shared CWE-122

Affected Assets

sail
sail
0.9.8

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)
  • 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.

Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.

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 recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

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 and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe techniques (safe functions, bounds checks) that prevent heap-based buffer overflows.

none

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

References