Out-of-bounds read in GNU Coreutils

1) Out-of-bounds read

EUVDB-ID: #VU109921

Risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2025-5278

CWE-ID: CWE-125 - Out-of-bounds read

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows an attacker to gain access to potentially sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to a boundary condition within the begfield() function when handling an overly large key value. A remote attacker can trick the victim into passing specially crafted input to the application, trigger an out-of-bounds read error and read contents of memory on the system.

Mitigation

Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address this vulnerability.

Vulnerable software versions

coreutils: 7.2 - 9.7

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

External links

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/27/2
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-5278
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2368764

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.