CVE-2025-9613 identifies a vulnerability in the PCI-SIG PCI Express Integrity and Data Encryption (PCIe IDE) specification related to CWE-459: Incomplete Cleanup. The issue arises because the specification provides insufficient guidance on how to handle tag reuse after completion timeouts. Specifically, multiple outstanding Non-Posted Requests can end up sharing the same tag, a condition known as tag aliasing. This leads to a scenario where completion packets intended for one request may be delivered to a different security context, potentially causing data intended for one process or device to be exposed or corrupted in another. Since PCIe is a widely used high-speed interface standard for connecting peripheral devices to a motherboard, this vulnerability could affect a broad range of hardware and software implementations that rely on the PCIe IDE specification for data integrity and encryption. The vulnerability does not require user interaction or authentication to be exploited, but no known exploits have been reported yet. The lack of a patch or mitigation guidance from PCI-SIG means that affected vendors and integrators must carefully audit their implementations to prevent tag aliasing and ensure proper cleanup of tags after timeouts. Failure to address this could result in serious breaches of data confidentiality and integrity, undermining the security guarantees of PCIe IDE encryption and integrity mechanisms.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-9613 could be significant, especially for those in sectors relying heavily on PCIe devices for secure data transmission, such as financial services, telecommunications, critical infrastructure, and technology manufacturing. The vulnerability could lead to unauthorized data disclosure or data corruption if completion responses are misrouted to incorrect security contexts. This compromises both confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data processed or transmitted via PCIe interfaces. Organizations using hardware or software that implement the PCIe IDE specification without proper tag management are at risk. The impact extends to supply chain security, as compromised PCIe devices could be used as attack vectors. Given the pervasive use of PCIe in modern computing environments, the scope of affected systems is broad, potentially affecting servers, workstations, embedded systems, and network devices. The absence of known exploits provides a window for proactive mitigation, but the risk remains high due to the fundamental nature of the flaw in the specification itself.

Mitigation should focus on immediate and long-term actions. Vendors and hardware manufacturers must review their PCIe IDE implementations to ensure strict adherence to tag management protocols, specifically enforcing unique tag usage and proper cleanup after completion timeouts to prevent aliasing. Firmware and driver updates should be developed to detect and handle tag reuse conditions robustly. Organizations should conduct thorough security audits of their PCIe device firmware and software stacks to identify vulnerable implementations. Network segmentation and strict access controls can limit exposure of critical PCIe devices. Monitoring for anomalous PCIe traffic patterns may help detect exploitation attempts. Collaboration with PCI-SIG and hardware vendors is essential to obtain specification updates and patches once available. In the interim, organizations should prioritize inventorying PCIe devices and assessing their compliance with the IDE specification. Incorporating PCIe security into broader hardware security frameworks and supply chain risk management will reduce overall exposure.