Utility crash via dangling structure-tree pointers
Published Oct 10, 2025 · Updated Oct 10, 2025
Use-after-free in Poppler before 25.10.0 allows attackers to crash a PDF utility by processing a crafted PDF with structure output. StructTreeRoot::parseNumberTreeNode stores raw pointers to parentTree vector elements in refToParentMap, then leaves them dangling when a later resize reallocates the vector. The demonstrated path requires a command-line utility to process the file with a non-default structure option, and common Poppler uses are not affected.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Poppler before 25.10.0 allows attackers to crash a PDF utility by processing a crafted PDF with structure output. StructTreeRoot::parseNumberTreeNode stores raw pointers to parentTree vector elements in refToParentMap, then leaves them dangling when a later resize reallocates the vector. The demonstrated path requires a command-line utility to process the file with a non-default structure option, and common Poppler uses are not affected.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-52885
- Published
- Oct 10, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 10, 2025
- Vendor
- Libslirp Project
- Product
- Poppler
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1204.002
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 10, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 10, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 25.10.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- GitHub Security Lab Poppler proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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