CVE-2025-53477
Published: 10 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-53477 is a high-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Apache Nimble. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked in the top 41.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; 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-11 (Error Handling).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-53477 is a NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Apache NimBLE, a Bluetooth Low Energy stack. The issue stems from missing validation of HCI connection complete or HCI command TX buffer, which could lead to a NULL pointer dereference. It affects Apache NimBLE versions through 1.8.0.
The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating potential for network-based exploitation with low complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, and high impact on availability via denial of service. However, exploitation requires disabled asserts and a broken or bogus Bluetooth controller, which contributes to its low overall severity assessment.
Apache recommends upgrading to version 1.9.0, which fixes the issue. Relevant advisories and patches are detailed in GitHub commits (0caf9baeb271ede85fcc5237ab87ddbf938600da and 3160b8c4c7ff8db4e0f9badcdf7df684b151e077), the Apache mailing list (lists.apache.org/thread/1dxthc132hwm2tzvjblrtnschcsbw2vo), and oss-security announcement (www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/01/08/3). The issue is associated with CWE-476.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-1853
Vulnerability details
NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Apache Nimble. Missing validation of HCI connection complete or HCI command TX buffer could lead to NULL pointer dereference. This issue requires disabled asserts and broken or bogus Bluetooth controller and thus severity is considered…
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low. This issue affects Apache NimBLE: through 1.8.0. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 1.9.0, which fixes the issue.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
NULL dereference in Bluetooth stack enables remote DoS via application exploitation under specific faulty controller conditions.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires timely remediation of the known flaw in Apache NimBLE through 1.8.0 by patching to version 1.9.0, directly preventing NULL pointer dereference exploitation.
Mandates validation of inputs such as HCI connection complete events and command TX buffers to prevent NULL pointer dereferences from unvalidated data.
Ensures error conditions like NULL pointers from invalid HCI buffers are handled without compromising system availability through crashes.