The vulnerability CVE-2025-5914 exists in the libarchive library's archive_read_format_rar_seek_data() function, where an integer overflow can trigger a double-free memory condition. This double-free can lead to memory corruption, which attackers might leverage to execute arbitrary code or cause denial-of-service conditions. The issue affects multiple architectures of Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8 and 9. Red Hat has released security advisories (RHSA-2025:14130 for RHEL 9 and RHSA-2025:14135 for RHEL 8) that provide updated libarchive packages addressing this flaw. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.8, indicating a high severity with local attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required, unchanged scope, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can result in memory corruption due to a double-free condition, potentially allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition on affected systems. The CVSS score of 7.8 reflects a high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. No known exploits in the wild have been reported at this time.

Red Hat has released official security updates for libarchive in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9 to address this vulnerability. Users should apply these updates as detailed in Red Hat advisories RHSA-2025:14130 and RHSA-2025:14135. For update instructions, refer to https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. Applying these patches will remediate the double-free vulnerability. No additional mitigation steps are indicated by the vendor.