VulnerabilityPublished 16 Mar 2025Updated 24 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-2338: tbeu matio · Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Affects tbeu matioSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:15 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

5.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 46% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Base metrics

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Passive
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Threat metrics

Exploit Maturity: POC

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, 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: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Passive: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires limited interaction by the targeted user with the vulnerable system and the attacker’s payload. These interactions would be considered involuntary and do not require that the user actively subvert protections built into the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system 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 Vulnerable System 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 Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Exploit Maturity: POC: Based on threat intelligence sources each of the following must apply: · Proof-of-concept is publicly available · No knowledge of reported attempts to exploit this vulnerability · No knowledge of publicly available solutions used to simplify attempts to exploit the vulnerability

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Mar 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 26 Oct 2026.

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
GitHubtbeu/matio`pkg:github/tbeu/matio`Other threats	Affected =1.5.28	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

1. Immediate mitigation involves restricting network exposure of systems running matio 1.5.28 to untrusted sources to reduce attack surface. 2. Implement input validation and sanitization on all data passed to matio functions, particularly those involving formatted strings, to prevent malformed inputs triggering the overflow. 3. Monitor vendor channels and security advisories for official patches or updates addressing CVE-2025-2338 and apply them promptly once available. 4. Employ runtime protections such as heap overflow detection tools, memory protection mechanisms (e.g., ASLR, DEP), and application sandboxing to limit exploitation impact. 5. Conduct code audits and penetration testing focusing on the strdup_vprintf function and related I/O operations to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities. 6. Deploy network intrusion detection systems with signatures tuned for heap overflow attempts targeting matio. 7. Educate developers and system administrators about the vulnerability to ensure awareness and prompt response. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling exposure, enhancing input handling, and leveraging runtime defenses specific to the vulnerability context.

Description

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in tbeu matio 1.5.28. Affected is the function strdup_vprintf of the file src/io.c. The manipulation leads to heap-based buffer overflow. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used.

Impact

For European organizations using matio 1.5.28, this vulnerability poses a risk of remote exploitation leading to potential denial of service or limited code execution capabilities. The medium severity suggests that while the impact on confidentiality and integrity is low, availability could be disrupted, affecting service continuity. Organizations in sectors relying on matio for data processing or scientific computing could face operational disruptions. Since exploitation does not require privileges, attackers could leverage this vulnerability to gain initial footholds or disrupt services remotely. The public disclosure increases the urgency for mitigation to prevent opportunistic attacks. However, the absence of known exploits in the wild somewhat reduces immediate risk. European entities with internet-facing services or internal systems processing untrusted input through matio are most at risk. The vulnerability could also be chained with other flaws to escalate impact. Thus, the threat is relevant for critical infrastructure, research institutions, and enterprises using this software in their data workflows.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Jul 2025, 10:19 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats