CVE-2025-5914 is a high-severity vulnerability identified in the libarchive library, specifically within the function archive_read_format_rar_seek_data(). The vulnerability arises due to an integer overflow that leads to a double-free condition. A double-free occurs when a program attempts to free the same memory location twice, which can corrupt the memory management data structures. This corruption can be exploited by attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution or cause a denial-of-service (DoS) by crashing the affected application. The vulnerability is present in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, which uses libarchive for handling various archive formats including RAR. The CVSS v3.1 score is 7.3, indicating a high severity with the attack vector being local (AV:L), requiring low attack complexity (AC:L), low privileges (PR:L), and user interaction (UI:R). The scope is unchanged (S:U), but the impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability is high (C:H/I:H/A:H). Although no known exploits are currently reported in the wild, the nature of the vulnerability means that exploitation could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the affected process or cause service disruption. The vulnerability is particularly critical in environments where libarchive processes untrusted RAR archives, such as automated file extraction services, backup systems, or user-facing applications that handle compressed files. Since the flaw is triggered by malformed RAR files, attackers could craft malicious archives to exploit this vulnerability when these files are processed.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-5914 can be significant, especially for those relying on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 in their infrastructure. The vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges or disrupt critical services by exploiting the double-free condition in libarchive. This is particularly concerning for sectors handling large volumes of compressed data, such as financial institutions, government agencies, healthcare providers, and cloud service providers. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, service outages, or compromise of critical systems. Given the local attack vector and requirement for user interaction, the threat is more pronounced in environments where users might open or process untrusted RAR files, including email gateways, file servers, or endpoint systems. The high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability underscores the risk of data breaches, operational disruption, and potential regulatory non-compliance under GDPR if personal data is exposed or systems are compromised.

Organizations should prioritize updating libarchive to a patched version as soon as it becomes available from Red Hat or their Linux distribution vendor. In the interim, it is advisable to implement strict file handling policies that restrict or scan RAR archives before processing. Employing sandboxing or containerization for applications that handle archive files can limit the impact of exploitation. Additionally, monitoring and alerting for unusual application crashes or memory corruption events related to archive processing can help detect attempted exploitation. User education to avoid opening untrusted RAR files and disabling automatic extraction of archives in email clients or file management tools can reduce exposure. Network segmentation and least privilege principles should be enforced to limit the scope of potential compromise. Finally, organizations should review their incident response plans to include scenarios involving exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities in archive processing libraries.