Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-63656

Memory Safety in Monkey-Project Monkey ≤ 1.8.5

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
29 January 2026
Modified
13 February 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.010 62th percentile
Risk Priority 60 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2025-63656 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Monkey-Project Monkey. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 38% 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 SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — 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-2025-63656 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the header_cmp function within mk_server/mk_http_parser.c of the Monkey web server at commit f37e984. The flaw is classified under CWE-125 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5, reflecting network-accessible exploitation with no required credentials or user interaction that results in high impact to availability.

Unauthenticated remote attackers can trigger the issue by sending a specially crafted HTTP request to the server, causing a denial of service. The attack requires only network connectivity and succeeds against default configurations because the parser does not properly validate header data before the out-of-bounds access occurs.

Public references point to a dedicated security advisory and the upstream GitHub issue for Monkey, though no specific patch details or mitigation steps are described in the available information. The associated EPSS score remains flat at 0.0131 with no material increase observed after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An out-of-bounds read in the header_cmp function (mk_server/mk_http_parser.c) of monkey commit f37e984 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via sending a crafted HTTP request to the server.

CWE(s)
CWE-125

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.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-63657Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63650Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63653Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63649Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63652Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63651Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63658Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2025-63655Same product: Monkey-Project Monkey
CVE-2026-64833Shared CWE-125
CVE-2024-38572Shared CWE-125

Affected Assets

monkey-project
monkey
≤ 1.8.5

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

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 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References