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CVE Record

CVE-2025-5278: Coreutils: heap buffer under-read in gnu coreutils sort via key specification

A flaw was found in GNU Coreutils. The sort utility's begfield() function is vulnerable to a heap buffer under-read. The program may access memory outside the allocated buffer if a user runs a crafted command using the traditional key format. A malicious input could lead to a crash or leak sensitive data.

MediumCVSS 4.4Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysis

Security readout for executives and security teams

This is a flaw in GNU coreutils sort. If someone is tricked into running sort with a specially crafted traditional key format, the program may read memory outside its buffer. The likely business impact is localized crashes or limited information disclosure, not remote system takeover. Exposure is mainly Linux systems, containers, and platforms carrying affected coreutils packages, especially Red Hat-listed RHEL 8, 9, 10, OpenShift Container Platform 4, and named Red Hat containers. RHEL 6 and 7 status is listed as unknown in the provided data. Treat this as routine but timely patch work. It is not described as actively exploited, but coreutils is widely deployed and often present in base images, so unmanaged container and Linux fleet exposure can linger. Mitigation focus: Apply relevant Red Hat errata updates for affected RHEL, OpenShift, and container packages.; Review GNU coreutils vendor guidance and downstream distribution advisories before patching non-Red Hat systems.; Refresh affected container images that include vulnerable coreutils builds..

Prepared

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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ATT&CK lookup starting points

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cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-121: Exact CWE lookup

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description · low confidence lookup

Container behavior lookup

The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2025-5278 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
4.4 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
2ADP providers
12Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
4.4CVSS 3.1MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L1.82.5redhat

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

4.4Medium
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2025-5278Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. Source timelineredhat

    Made public.

  2. Source timelineredhat

    Reported to Red Hat.

  3. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  4. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CVECVE Program Container
CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Unknown vendorcoreutilscoreutils, 7.2unaffected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 10coreutils, 0:9.5-8.el10_2affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9coreutils, 0:8.32-41.el9_8affected
Red HatRed Hat Discovery 2discovery/discovery-ui-rhel9, 1782756541affected
Red HatRed Hat Insights proxy 1.5insights-proxy/insights-proxy-container-rhel9, 1782890503affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-gateway-opa-rhel9, 1782501180affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-gateway-rhel9, 1782501200affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-jaeger-query-rhel9, 1782498923affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-operator-bundle, 1782510941affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-query-rhel9, 1782501220affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-rhel9, 1782501196affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3.10.1rhosdt/tempo-rhel9-operator, 1782501195affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 6coreutilsunknown
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 7coreutilsunknown
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8coreutilsaffected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4rhcosaffected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-121

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-121 · source CWE mapping

Stack-based Buffer Overflow

Stack-based Buffer Overflow represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

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