CVE-2025-54472 is a significant vulnerability found in Apache bRPC, specifically affecting its Redis protocol parser module. This flaw allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (DoS) without authentication by exploiting the way the component handles memory allocation based on network data.
Detailed notes on CVE-2025-54472:
- Vulnerable Component: The Redis protocol parser within Apache bRPC, a high-performance RPC framework widely used in distributed systems.
- Affected Versions: All versions of Apache bRPC prior to 1.14.1, including version 1.14.0, which contains an incomplete patch that still allows bypasses through integer overflow techniques.
- Nature of the Flaw: The vulnerability arises from improper management of memory allocation triggered by integer values read in the Redis packets. Specifically, when receiving crafted Redis protocol data, the parser calculates required memory based on potentially large integers without adequate boundary checks.
- Attack Vector: It is exploitable remotely over the network by sending specially crafted Redis protocol data packets to the bRPC service.
- Impact: The memory allocation flaw leads to excessive memory requests, which can exhaust system resources, causing the bRPC service to crash and become unavailable. This results in a denial of service condition impacting service availability.
- Severity: Classified as an important vulnerability because it can disrupt critical services but does not allow code execution or privilege escalation.
- Root Cause: The core issue is the absence of comprehensive bounds checking during memory allocation within the Redis protocol parser, allowing unchecked integer values to trigger uncontrolled memory allocation.
- Remediation: The definitive fix has been released in Apache bRPC version 1.14.1. This update includes proper bounds checking to prevent integer overflow and limit memory allocation requests, effectively mitigating the denial of service risk.
- Security Recommendation: Organizations using Apache bRPC, particularly in Redis server or client configurations, should urgently upgrade to version 1.14.1. Additionally, monitoring network traffic for anomalous Redis protocol packets and restricting access to bRPC services can help reduce exposure prior to patching.
This vulnerability underscores the importance of rigorous input validation and memory management in network facing protocol parsers to prevent resource exhaustion attacks that impact service reliability. Immediate patching is essential to maintain system stability and avoid disruptions caused by denial of service attacks leveraging CVE-2025-54472.
The researcher credited with discovering CVE-2025-54472, a critical vulnerability in Apache bRPC’s Redis protocol parser that allows unauthenticated remote denial of service (DoS) attacks through improper memory allocation, is Tyler Zars. The flaw was reported by him and classified as “important” severity by the Apache Security Team
