VulnerabilityPublished 15 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-6971: Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS eDrawings · Use After Free

Affects Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS eDrawingsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.8High

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 9% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 15 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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

AI-suggested

To mitigate the risk posed by CVE-2025-6971, European organizations should implement several specific measures beyond generic patching advice: 1) Restrict the use of SOLIDWORKS eDrawings to trusted users and environments, limiting exposure to untrusted CATPRODUCT files. 2) Implement strict email and file attachment filtering to detect and block suspicious or unexpected CATPRODUCT files, especially from external sources. 3) Employ endpoint protection solutions capable of detecting anomalous behavior related to memory corruption exploits, including heuristic and behavior-based detection. 4) Educate users, particularly engineers and designers, about the risks of opening files from unverified sources and encourage verification of file origins before opening. 5) Use application whitelisting and sandboxing techniques to isolate SOLIDWORKS eDrawings processes, reducing the impact of potential exploitation. 6) Monitor network and endpoint logs for unusual activity indicative of exploitation attempts, such as unexpected process launches or memory access violations. 7) Coordinate with Dassault Systèmes for timely patch deployment once available, and consider temporary workarounds such as disabling automatic opening of CATPRODUCT files or using alternative viewing tools where feasible. 8) Review and enhance internal file sharing policies to minimize the circulation of potentially malicious files within the organization.

Description

Use After Free vulnerability exists in the CATPRODUCT file reading procedure in SOLIDWORKS eDrawings on Release SOLIDWORKS Desktop 2025. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code while opening a specially crafted CATPRODUCT file.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-6971 could be substantial, particularly in industries reliant on CAD software such as automotive, aerospace, industrial manufacturing, and engineering services. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive design data, intellectual property theft, or insertion of malicious modifications into design files, potentially compromising product integrity and safety. The ability to execute arbitrary code locally could also facilitate lateral movement within corporate networks, leading to broader compromise. Given the high confidentiality and integrity impact, organizations could face operational disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage. Additionally, regulatory compliance risks may arise if sensitive data is exposed or manipulated. The requirement for user interaction means that social engineering or phishing campaigns targeting employees who handle CAD files could be an effective attack vector. The local attack vector suggests that attackers need some form of access to the endpoint, but this is often achievable through email attachments or shared network drives. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive defense, but the high severity score demands immediate attention.

CWE-416Use After Free (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #7
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
Architecture and Design · Language Selection
Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction
When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

3ds.com/trust-center/security/security-advisories/cve-2025-6971 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Jul 2025, 15:32 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-416

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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