CVE-2025-11579VulnerabilityPublished 10 Oct 2025Updated 2 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-11579: nwaples rardecode · Excessive Memory Allocation

Affects nwaples rardecodeSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 31% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Oct 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
nwaplesrardecode	Affected >=2.0.1 <=2.1.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Monitor for updates from the rardecode project and apply patches promptly once available. 2. Until a patch is released, implement input validation to reject RAR files with unusually large dictionary size fields. 3. Deploy resource limits on memory allocation for decompression processes to prevent excessive consumption. 4. Use sandboxing or isolated environments for processing untrusted RAR files to contain potential crashes. 5. Employ network-level controls to detect and block suspicious RAR files or traffic patterns indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Review and update incident response plans to handle potential denial of service incidents related to this vulnerability. 7. Engage with software vendors that incorporate rardecode to confirm their mitigation status and timelines. 8. Consider alternative decompression libraries with better input validation if immediate patching is not feasible.

Description

github.com/nwaples/rardecode versions <=2.1.1 fail to restrict the dictionary size when reading large RAR dictionary sizes, which allows an attacker to provide a specially crafted RAR file and cause Denial of Service via an Out Of Memory Crash.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact is denial of service due to application or service crashes when processing malicious RAR files. This can disrupt business operations, especially in sectors that handle large volumes of compressed data such as media, software development, and IT services. Systems that automatically scan or decompress RAR archives (e.g., antivirus, file storage, or content management systems) are particularly at risk. While confidentiality and integrity are not directly affected, availability degradation can lead to operational downtime and potential cascading effects in critical infrastructure or service delivery. The medium CVSS score reflects moderate risk, but the ease of exploitation and lack of required privileges increase the threat level. Organizations relying on third-party software embedding rardecode should assess their exposure. Additionally, denial of service attacks could be leveraged as part of broader attack campaigns targeting European entities, especially those with high dependency on file decompression services.

CWE-789Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value (opens in a new tab)
Variant weakness
The product allocates memory based on an untrusted, large size value, but it does not ensure that the size is within expected limits, allowing arbitrary amounts of memory to be allocated.
Implementation · Architecture and Design
Perform adequate input validation against any value that influences the amount of memory that is allocated. Define an appropriate strategy for handling requests that exceed the limit, and consider supporting a configuration option so that the administrator can extend the amount of memory to be used if necessary.
Operation
Run your program using system-provided resource limits for memory. This might still cause the program to crash or exit, but the impact to the rest of the system will be minimized.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

github.com/nwaples/rardecode/commit/52fb4e825c936636f251f7e7deded39ab11df9a9 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 2 Dec 2025, 14:23 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-789

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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