CVE-2025-30216
📋 TL;DR
A heap overflow vulnerability in CryptoLib's TM protocol processing allows attackers to trigger arbitrary memory overwrites by sending specially crafted packets with invalid Secondary Header Length values. This affects spacecraft-ground station communications secured with SDLS-EP in cFS deployments using CryptoLib 1.3.3 and earlier. Successful exploitation could lead to remote code execution on affected systems.
💻 Affected Systems
- NASA CryptoLib
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote attacker gains arbitrary code execution on spacecraft or ground station systems, potentially taking full control of spacecraft operations or ground infrastructure.
Likely Case
System instability, crashes, or denial of service in spacecraft-ground communications, potentially disrupting mission operations.
If Mitigated
With proper network segmentation and input validation, impact limited to isolated communication channel disruption.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires ability to send TM protocol packets to vulnerable system, but no authentication is needed once packet injection is possible.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Fixed in commit 810fd66d592c883125272fef123c3240db2f170f
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/nasa/CryptoLib/security/advisories/GHSA-v3jc-5j74-hcjv
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Pull latest CryptoLib from GitHub
2. Apply commit 810fd66d592c883125272fef123c3240db2f170f
3. Rebuild CryptoLib library
4. Rebuild and redeploy cFS applications using CryptoLib
5. Restart affected spacecraft and ground station services
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Filter
allImplement network-level packet filtering to reject TM packets where Secondary Header Length exceeds total packet length
# Requires custom network filtering implementation based on your architecture
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate spacecraft-ground communication channels from untrusted networks
- Deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for anomalous TM packet patterns and block suspicious traffic
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check CryptoLib version in your cFS deployment and verify if using versions 1.3.3 or earlierCheck Version:
git log --oneline | grep -i 'crypto_tm.c' or check library version in build configurationVerify Fix Applied:
Verify commit 810fd66d592c883125272fef123c3240db2f170f is present in your CryptoLib build📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unexpected process crashes in cFS applications
- Memory corruption errors in system logs
- Abnormal packet size alerts in network logs
Network Indicators:
- TM packets with Secondary Header Length > Total Packet Length
- Unusual packet patterns in spacecraft-ground communications
SIEM Query:
source="network_traffic" AND protocol="TM" AND secondary_header_length > total_packet_length