CVE-2025-15275
Description
A flaw was found in FontForge. A remote attacker could exploit a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability during SFD file parsing. This issue arises from insufficient validation of user-supplied data length before copying it to a buffer. Successful exploitation requires user interaction, such as opening a malicious SFD file, and could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated Important for Red Hat products. It allows for arbitrary code execution in FontForge when a user opens a specially crafted SFD file. This affects FontForge on Fedora 42, 43, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 ELS, 7 ELS, 8, 9, 10, and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2.0.
Mitigation
Users should exercise caution and avoid opening untrusted SFD (Spline Font Database) files with FontForge. If FontForge is not essential for system operation, consider removing the `fontforge` package to eliminate the attack vector. This can be achieved using the system's package manager, for example, `sudo dnf remove fontforge` on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora systems. Removing this package may impact functionality that relies on font editing capabilities.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 8.8 | N/A | 8.8 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Modify Memory
Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. Besides important user data, heap-based overflows can be used to overwrite function pointers that may be living in memory, pointing it to the attacker's code. Even in applications that do not explicitly use function pointers, the run-time will usually leave many in memory. For example, object methods in C++ are generally implemented using function pointers. Even in C programs, there is often a global offset table used by the underlying runtime.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control,Other
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other
When the consequence is arbitrary code execution, this can often be used to subvert any other security service.
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