CVE-2025-64076 json
cbor2 C extension decoder flaws can cause denial of service
published 2025-11-18 11 mo ago modified 2026-11-05 3 d ago also GHSA-9q9c-vjxh-p795 , PYSEC-2025-238 , EUVD-2025-198054
- cvss
- 7.5
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.5%
- EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 42%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
Multiple vulnerabilities exist in cbor2 through version 5.7.0 in the decode_definite_long_string() function of the C extension decoder (source/decoder.c): (1) Integer Underflow Leading to Out-of-Bounds Read (CWE-191, CWE-125): An incorrect variable reference and missing state reset in the chunk processing loop causes buffer_length to not be reset to zero after UTF-8 character consumption. This results in subsequent chunk_length calculations producing negative values (e.g., chunk_length = 65536 - buffer_length), which are passed as signed integers to the read() method, potentially triggering unlimited read operations and resource exhaustion. (2) Memory Leak via Missing Reference Count Release (CWE-401): The main processing loop fails to release Python object references (Py_DECREF) for chunk objects allocated in each iteration. For CBOR strings longer than 65536 bytes, this causes cumulative memory leaks proportional to the payload size, enabling memory exhaustion attacks through repeated processing of large CBOR payloads. Both vulnerabilities can be exploited remotely without authentication by sending specially-crafted CBOR data containing definite-length text strings with multi-byte UTF-8 characters positioned at 65536-byte chunk boundaries. Successful exploitation results in denial of service through process crashes (CBORDecodeEOF exceptions) or memory exhaustion. The vulnerabilities affect all applications using cbor2's C extension to process untrusted CBOR data, including web APIs, IoT data collectors, and message queue processors. Fixed in commit 851473490281f82d82560b2368284ef33cf6e8f9 pushed with released version 5.7.1.
Patch / fix
- pypi cbor2 5.7.1
- cbor2 Debian 14 5.7.1-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2025-64076
- python-cbor2 SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 5.6.5-160000.3.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:21168-1
- python-cbor2 openSUSE Leap 16.0 5.6.5-160000.3.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:20133-1
- github.com/agronholm/cbor2@8514734 commit
- github.com/agronholm/cbor2#265 pull request
- github.com/agronholm/cbor2/releases/tag/5.7.1 release
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2025-64076 updated cvss 7.5
cbor2: cbor2: Integer Underflow and Memory Leak leading to Denial of Service
-
Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat productsnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- Proof of concept is public
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 11 mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.49% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 42% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Exploits and checks
- github.com https://github.com/agronholm/cbor2/pull/265 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
- github.com https://github.com/agronholm/cbor2/issues/264 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:N/I:N/PR:N/S:U/UI:N |
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| GitHub | 3.1 | 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| OSV | 3.1 | 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| pypi | cbor2 | <5.7.1 |
5.7.1 |
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-191 Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound)
References
-
github.com
/agronholm/cbor2/pull/265
web, exploit, issue-tracking, patch
-
github.com
/agronholm/cbor2/commit/851473490281f82d82560b2368284ef33cf6e8f9
web, patch
-
github.com
/agronholm/cbor2/issues/264
web, exploit, issue-tracking, report
-
nvd.nist.gov
/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-64076
advisory
-
github.com
/agronholm/cbor2
package
-
github.com
/agronholm/cbor2/releases/tag/5.7.1
web
-
github.com
/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/cbor2/PYSEC-2025-238.yaml
web
-
github.com
/advisories/GHSA-9q9c-vjxh-p795
advisory
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2025-64076
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-9q9c-vjxh-p795
- NVD CVE-2025-64076
- OSV PYSEC-2025-238
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