FontForge BMP File Parser heap-based overflow

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in FontForge. The affected element is an unknown function of the component BMP File Parser. The manipulation leads to heap-based overflow. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-15279. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in FontForge (version now known) and classified as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component BMP File Parser. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a heap-based overflow vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-122. A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc(). Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

FontForge GUtils BMP File Parsing Heap-based Buffer Overflow Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of FontForge. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of pixels within BMP files. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current user. Was ZDI-CAN-27517.

The advisory is shared at zerodayinitiative.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-15279. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/01/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 281495 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-15279), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (281495) and EUVD (EUVD-2025-205887). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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• FontForge

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Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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