CVE-2025-2529 identifies a vulnerability in IBM Terracotta's Ehcache 3.x versions 10.15.0 and 11.1.0, related to improper handling of syntactically invalid structures (CWE-228). Specifically, when applications use cache keys sourced directly from external, potentially malicious parties without filtering or salting, the cache-write operations experience degraded performance. This occurs because the Ehcache implementation does not correctly handle malformed or unexpected key structures, leading to inefficient cache processing and resource consumption. The vulnerability is local attack vector (AV:L), requires high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges (PR:N), and no user interaction (UI:N). The impact is limited to availability degradation (A:L) without affecting confidentiality or integrity. No patches are currently linked, and no exploits are known in the wild. The issue primarily affects performance-sensitive applications relying on Ehcache for caching external data, potentially causing slowdowns or denial of service due to resource exhaustion or bottlenecks in cache writes.

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2025-2529 is degraded application performance and potential availability issues in systems using affected Ehcache versions with unfiltered external keys. This can lead to slower response times, increased latency, and possible service disruptions in critical applications relying on caching for efficiency. While the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, the availability degradation can affect user experience and operational continuity, especially in high-load environments such as financial services, e-commerce, and public sector applications. Organizations with strict SLAs or real-time processing requirements may face operational challenges. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the potential for performance degradation warrants proactive mitigation.

To mitigate CVE-2025-2529, organizations should implement strict input validation and sanitization of all cache keys sourced from external or untrusted parties. Applying salting or hashing to keys before caching can prevent malformed or malicious keys from causing performance degradation. Monitoring cache performance metrics to detect anomalies early is recommended. Where possible, upgrade to later versions of IBM Terracotta Ehcache once patches addressing this issue are released. Additionally, limit local access to systems running affected versions to reduce attack surface. Incorporate caching best practices such as key normalization and size limits to avoid resource exhaustion. Conduct thorough testing of cache behavior under load with external inputs to identify potential performance bottlenecks.