CVE-2025-54489
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-2025-54489 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 in the top 50% 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.
A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability, designated CVE-2025-54489 and tracked under CWE-121, affects the MFER parsing functionality in The Biosig Project's libbiosig version 3.9.0 and the master branch at commit 35a819fa. The issue occurs in biosig.c at line 8970 during processing of tag 63, where the code reads a single-octet length value (len2, which can reach 255) and copies that many bytes into a fixed 128-byte stack buffer named buf. A specially crafted MFER file can trigger this overflow, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.
The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating it is exploitable over a network with low complexity, no privileges or user interaction required. An attacker who can supply a malicious MFER file to an application or system using the affected libbiosig version can trigger the buffer overflow, achieving arbitrary code execution in the context of the parsing process.
Details on mitigation and patches are available in the advisories published by Talos Intelligence at https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2025-2234 and https://www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2025-2234. The CVE was published on 2025-08-25.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-25674
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 8970 of biosig.c on the current master branch (35a819fa), when the Tag is 63: else if (tag==63) { uint8_t tag2=255, len2=255; count = 0; while ((count<len) && !(FlagInfiniteLength && len2==0 && tag2==0)){ curPos += ifread(&tag2,1,1,hdr); curPos += ifread(&len2,1,1,hdr); if (VERBOSE_LEVEL==9) fprintf(stdout,"MFER: tag=%3i chan=%2i len=%-4i tag2=%3i len2=%3i curPos=%i %li count=%4i\n",tag,chan,len,tag2,len2,curPos,iftell(hdr),(int)count); if (FlagInfiniteLength && len2==0 && tag2==0) break; count += (2+len2); curPos += ifread(&buf,1,len2,hdr); Here, the number of bytes read is not the Data Length decoded from the current frame in the file (`len`) but rather is a new length contained in a single octet read from the same input file (`len2`). Despite this, a stack-based buffer overflow condition can still occur, as the destination buffer is still `buf`, which has a size of only 128 bytes, while `len2` can be as large as 255.
- 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