CVE-2025-54487
Memory Safety in Libbiosig Project Libbiosig ≤ 3.9.1
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-54487 is a critical-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Libbiosig Project Libbiosig. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 49th 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 stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-54487, affects the MFER parsing functionality in The Biosig Project's libbiosig version 3.9.0 and the master branch at commit 35a819fa. The issue, classified under CWE-121, is present in biosig.c at line 8842 during processing of tag 12, where values of len greater than 130 or smaller than 2 trigger the overflow—either directly or via integer underflow in the len-2 computation when reading into a fixed-size buffer. A specially crafted MFER file can exploit this to enable arbitrary code execution.
Attackers require no privileges or user interaction and can exploit remotely with low complexity, as reflected in the CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). Any unauthenticated remote actor capable of supplying a malicious MFER file to an application or system using the vulnerable libbiosig can trigger the overflow, achieving arbitrary code execution with high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Mitigation guidance is available in the Talos Intelligence advisory at https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2025-2234.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-25676
Vulnerability Data
A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the MFER parsing functionality of The Biosig Project libbiosig 3.9.0 and Master Branch (35a819fa). A specially crafted MFER file can lead to arbitrary code execution. An attacker can provide a malicious file to…
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trigger this vulnerability.This vulnerability manifests on line 8842 of biosig.c on the current master branch (35a819fa), when the Tag is 12: else if (tag==12) //0x0C { // sampling resolution if (len>6) fprintf(stderr,"Warning MFER tag12 incorrect length %i>6\n",len); val32 = 0; int8_t v8; curPos += ifread(&UnitCode,1,1,hdr); curPos += ifread(&v8,1,1,hdr); curPos += ifread(buf,1,len-2,hdr); In addition to values of `len` greater than 130 triggering a buffer overflow, a value of `len` smaller than 2 will also trigger a buffer overflow due to an integer underflow when computing `len-2` in this code path.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and analysis can discover stack-buffer overflows before deployment.
Input validation directly stops untrusted data from exceeding stack buffer bounds.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability to execute injected code after a stack overflow.
Secure-engineering principles include bounds-checked coding and safe buffer handling that avoid introducing the 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.
Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.
Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.
Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.
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.
Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.
Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.
Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.
Change-management gates can enforce security reviews that catch buffer issues.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121