CVE-2025-5278VulnerabilityPublished 22 Sep 2026Updated 31 Oct 2026

Red Hat Security Advisory: coreutils security update

Affects Red Hat coreutilsSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2025-5278· Medium 4.4

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.4 Medium : upgrade Red Hat coreutils to 9.8 when convenient.

Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 08:20 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.4Medium

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

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CNA (redhat)	CVSS 3.1	4.4

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 23% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 9.8

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

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

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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 27 May 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 30 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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), 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

Upgrade coreutils to 9.8.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
coreutils	Affected >=7.2 <9.8	Fixed in 9.8

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released updated coreutils packages that fix this vulnerability. Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 should apply the security update RHSA-2026:69964 promptly to remediate the issue. Detailed update instructions are available from Red Hat's official documentation. No additional mitigation steps are required beyond applying the official patch.

Description

A heap buffer under-read vulnerability (CVE-2025-5278) exists in the GNU Coreutils sort utility as distributed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. This flaw involves improper handling of key specifications in the sort command, potentially leading to memory safety issues. Red Hat has released an update to address this moderate severity security issue in coreutils packages for multiple architectures.

Impact

The vulnerability may allow an attacker to cause a heap buffer under-read when using the sort utility with specially crafted key specifications. This could lead to information disclosure or program instability. The Red Hat advisory classifies the impact as moderate, indicating that while the flaw is serious, it is not considered critical or high risk. There is no evidence of active exploitation in the wild.

Summary

The vulnerability CVE-2025-5278 affects the GNU Coreutils sort utility by causing a heap buffer under-read via crafted key specifications. This issue is present in the coreutils packages included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 across various supported architectures. Red Hat has issued a security advisory (RHSA-2026:69964) describing the flaw and providing updated coreutils packages to fix the problem. The advisory rates the impact as moderate and references the CVE for further details. No public exploit or in-the-wild exploitation is reported. The fix is available in coreutils version 8.30-21.el8_10 and related packages.

CWE-121Stack-based Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #14
The product writes past the end of a buffer that was allocated on the stack.
Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening
Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…
Architecture and Design
Use an abstraction library to abstract away risky APIs. Not a complete solution.
Implementation
Implement and perform bounds checking on input.
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

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 31 Oct 2026, 06:23 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-121

Technical details

References

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