CVE-2025-52290
Description
A flaw was found in ffmpeg. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by providing a crafted media file to be processed by the application. This issue triggers a NULL pointer dereference in the avpriv_h264_has_num_reorder_frames function, leading to an unexpected application crash and resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because exploitation results strictly in a denial of service via an application crash, with no risk of arbitrary code execution or unauthorized data exposure. The flaw requires an application or user to parse a specifically malformed H.264 stream, limiting the blast radius to the active decoding process. While FFmpeg is not provided in core Red Hat Enterprise Linux channels, it is present in containerized offerings such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI and OpenShift AI, where exploitation could interrupt specific media processing tasks without impacting the host environment.
Mitigation
Do not process media files from untrusted or unverified sources. If handling untrusted content is necessary, isolate media decoding workloads within restricted execution environments, such as unprivileged containers or sandboxes configured with systemd isolation parameters (e.g., ProtectSystem=strict and PrivateTmp=true).
Caveat: Sandboxing confines the crash to the isolated process and prevents broader system compromise, but the individual task processing the malformed file will still terminate unexpectedly.
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).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
NULL pointer dereferences usually result in the failure of the process unless exception handling (on some platforms) is available and implemented. Even when exception handling is being used, it can still be very difficult to return the software to a safe state of operation.
Integrity,Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory
In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.
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