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UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2025-27363

FreeType Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability

KEVHIGH 8.1EPSS 27.8%

Does this matter?

Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 27 May 2025). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.

Description

An out of bounds write exists in FreeType versions 2.13.0 and below (newer versions of FreeType are not vulnerable) when attempting to parse font subglyph structures related to TrueType GX and variable font files. The vulnerable code assigns a signed short value to an unsigned long and then adds a static value causing it to wrap around and allocate too small of a heap buffer. The code then writes up to 6 signed long integers out of bounds relative to this buffer. This may result in arbitrary code execution. This vulnerability may have been exploited in the wild.

CVSS 3.1
8.1 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
27.77% probability · 98th percentile
CISA KEV
Listed 6 May 2025 · due 27 May 2025
Weakness
CWE-787
Affected
freetype/freetype · debian/debian linux
Source
cve-assign@fb.com

CISA notes

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. This vulnerability affects a common open-source component, third-party library, or a protocol used by different products. Please check with specific vendors for information on patching status. For more information, please see: https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/2025-05-01 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-27363

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.