OISF libhtp up to 0.5.50 suricata.yaml memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as problematic has been reported in OISF libhtp up to 0.5.50. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file suricata.yaml. Performing a manipulation results in memory leak. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-53537. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in OISF libhtp up to 0.5.50. This affects an unknown code of the file suricata.yaml. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

LibHTP is a security-aware parser for the HTTP protocol and its related bits and pieces. In versions 0.5.50 and below, there is a traffic-induced memory leak that can starve the process of memory, leading to loss of visibility. To workaround this issue, set `suricata.yaml app-layer.protocols.http.libhtp.default-config.lzma-enabled` to false. This issue is fixed in version 0.5.51.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-53537 since 07/02/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 253435 (Fedora 41 : suricata (2025-a029ba03cc)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 0.5.51 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (253435) and EUVD (EUVD-2025-22472). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• OISF

Name

• libhtp

Version

• 0.5.0
• 0.5.1
• 0.5.2
• 0.5.3
• 0.5.4
• 0.5.5
• 0.5.6
• 0.5.7
• 0.5.8
• 0.5.9
• 0.5.10
• 0.5.11
• 0.5.12
• 0.5.13
• 0.5.14
• 0.5.15
• 0.5.16
• 0.5.17
• 0.5.18
• 0.5.19
• 0.5.20
• 0.5.21
• 0.5.22
• 0.5.23
• 0.5.24
• 0.5.25
• 0.5.26
• 0.5.27
• 0.5.28
• 0.5.29
• 0.5.30
• 0.5.31
• 0.5.32
• 0.5.33
• 0.5.34
• 0.5.35
• 0.5.36
• 0.5.37
• 0.5.38
• 0.5.39
• 0.5.40
• 0.5.41
• 0.5.42
• 0.5.43
• 0.5.44
• 0.5.45
• 0.5.46
• 0.5.47
• 0.5.48
• 0.5.49
• 0.5.50

Website

• Product: https://github.com/OISF/libhtp/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion