Service degradation via unreleased metadata cache entries
Published Jul 4, 2025 · Updated Jul 8, 2025
Memory leak in HDF5 1.14.6 allows local users to degrade service availability by supplying a crafted HDF5 file to a local process. During metadata-cache discard failures, H5C__flush_single_entry skips the free_icr callback, leaving H5FL__malloc allocations and pinned entries unreleased. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and repeated processing can prevent the metadata cache from flushing and closing.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in HDF5 1.14.6 allows local users to degrade service availability by supplying a crafted HDF5 file to a local process. During metadata-cache discard failures, H5C__flush_single_entry skips the free_icr callback, leaving H5FL__malloc allocations and pinned entries unreleased. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and repeated processing can prevent the metadata cache from flushing and closing.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-7068
- Published
- Jul 4, 2025
- Updated
- Jul 8, 2025
- Vendor
- The HDF Group
- Product
- HDF5
- Classifications
- CWE-404, CWE-401, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jul 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 8, 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=1.14.6
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- hdf5_crash_10.txt reproducerproof 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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