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CVE-2025-52471VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2025-52471: espressif esp-idf · Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound)

Affects espressif esp-idfSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.2 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
7.2High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 59% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 24 Jun 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 2026-10-25.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
GitHubespressif/esp-idfpkg:github/espressif/esp-idfOther threatsAffected
  • =5.4.1
  • =5.3.3
  • =5.2.5
  • =5.1.6
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 upgrade to patched ESP-IDF versions 5.4.2, 5.3.4, 5.2.6, or later is strongly recommended to leverage built-in validation fixes. 2. For devices running ESP-IDF versions prior to 5.4, implement application-level validation in the RX callback to ensure the data_len parameter is strictly positive before processing to mitigate underflow risks. 3. Conduct an inventory audit of all IoT devices using Espressif chips and ESP-IDF to identify vulnerable firmware versions. 4. Where firmware upgrade is not immediately feasible, isolate vulnerable devices on segmented networks with strict access controls to limit exposure. 5. Monitor network traffic for anomalous ESP-NOW packets that could indicate exploitation attempts. 6. Collaborate with device manufacturers and vendors to ensure timely firmware updates and security patches are deployed. 7. Employ runtime protections such as memory protection units (MPUs) or secure boot features where hardware supports them to reduce impact of memory corruption. 8. Integrate vulnerability scanning and IoT asset management tools to maintain ongoing visibility of device security posture.

Description

ESF-IDF is the Espressif Internet of Things (IOT) Development Framework. An integer underflow vulnerability has been identified in the ESP-NOW protocol implementation within the ESP Wi-Fi component of versions 5.4.1, 5.3.3, 5.2.5, and 5.1.6 of the ESP-IDF framework. This issue stems from insufficient validation of user-supplied data length in the packet receive function. Under certain conditions, this may lead to out-of-bounds memory access and may allow arbitrary memory write operations. On systems without a memory protection scheme, this behavior could potentially be used to achieve remote code execution (RCE) on the target device. In versions 5.4.2, 5.3.4, 5.2.6, and 5.1.6, ESP-NOW has added more comprehensive validation logic on user-supplied data length during packet reception to prevent integer underflow caused by negative value calculations. For ESP-IDF v5.3 and earlier, a workaround can be applied by validating that the `data_len` parameter received in the RX callback (registered via `esp_now_register_recv_cb()`) is a positive value before further processing. For ESP-IDF v5.4 and later, no application-level workaround is available. Users are advised to upgrade to a patched version of ESP-IDF to take advantage of the built-in mitigation.

References

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