CVE-2025-35966VulnerabilityPublished 22 Jul 2025Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-35966: Bloomberg Comdb2 · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects Bloomberg Comdb2Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 49% 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:H

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

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: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Jul 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
Bloomberg Comdb2	Affected =8.1	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Restrict network access to Bloomberg Comdb2 instances by implementing strict firewall rules and network segmentation to allow only trusted hosts and internal networks to communicate over the Comdb2 TCP port. 2. Monitor network traffic for anomalous or malformed protocol buffer messages targeting the CDB2SQLQUERY protocol, using intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with custom signatures or behavioral analytics. 3. Apply vendor patches or updates as soon as Bloomberg releases a fix for this vulnerability; maintain close communication with Bloomberg support channels for advisories. 4. If patching is not immediately possible, consider temporarily disabling or restricting external access to Comdb2 services until mitigations are in place. 5. Conduct regular audits of Comdb2 deployment configurations to ensure no unintended exposure to untrusted networks. 6. Implement robust logging and alerting on Comdb2 service crashes or restarts to detect potential exploitation attempts early. 7. Educate network and security teams about this vulnerability to ensure rapid response and containment in case of an incident.

Description

A null pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the CDB2SQLQUERY protocol buffer message handling of Bloomberg Comdb2 8.1. A specially crafted protocol buffer message can lead to a denial of service. An attacker can simply connect to a database instance over TCP and send the crafted message to trigger this vulnerability.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-35966 is denial of service, which can disrupt the availability of Bloomberg Comdb2 database instances. For European organizations, particularly those in finance, banking, and trading sectors where Bloomberg products are widely used, this can lead to operational downtime, loss of access to critical financial data, and potential cascading effects on dependent systems and services. The vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, but the availability impact can affect business continuity and service level agreements. Since exploitation requires only network access and no authentication, any Comdb2 instance exposed to untrusted networks is at risk. This could lead to targeted attacks aiming to disrupt financial services or cause reputational damage. The lack of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk, but the straightforward nature of the attack vector means threat actors could develop exploits rapidly. European organizations with internet-facing Comdb2 instances or insufficient network segmentation are particularly vulnerable. The impact is heightened in countries with significant financial infrastructure relying on Bloomberg technologies.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 02:16 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-476

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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