CVE-2025-54080
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-54080 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Exiv2 library versions 0.28.5 and earlier. An attacker can cause denial of service by crashing Exiv2 when it writes metadata to a specially crafted image file. This affects users and applications that process image metadata with vulnerable Exiv2 versions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Exiv2 library
- Applications using Exiv2 library
📦 What is this software?
Exiv2 by Exiv2
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Application crash leading to denial of service, potentially disrupting image processing workflows or services that rely on Exiv2 for metadata operations.
Likely Case
Application crash when processing malicious image files during metadata writing operations, requiring restart of affected processes.
If Mitigated
No impact if patched version is used or if metadata writing operations are restricted to trusted sources.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires victim to process a crafted image file. No authentication needed if application accepts untrusted files. The advisory includes technical details but no public exploit code.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 0.28.6
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/security/advisories/GHSA-496f-x7cq-cq39
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update Exiv2 to version 0.28.6 or later. 2. For package managers: Use system package manager (apt, yum, brew, etc.) to update. 3. For source builds: Download latest release from GitHub and rebuild. 4. Restart any applications or services using Exiv2.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable metadata writing
allConfigure applications to disable Exiv2 metadata writing operations for untrusted image sources
Input validation
allImplement strict file type validation and sanitization for image uploads
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict metadata writing operations to trusted, verified image files only
- Implement application-level sandboxing or containerization to limit impact of crashes
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Exiv2 version: exiv2 --version | grep -i version. If version is 0.28.5 or earlier, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
exiv2 --versionVerify Fix Applied:
After update, verify version is 0.28.6 or later: exiv2 --version📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes or segmentation faults when processing image files
- Error messages related to Exiv2 metadata operations
Network Indicators:
- Unusual patterns of image file uploads to web applications
SIEM Query:
source="application.log" AND ("segmentation fault" OR "crash" OR "exiv2") AND "image"