Harfbuzz
CVE-2023-25193
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos.hh in HarfBuzz through 6.0.0 allows attackers to trigger O(n^2) growth via consecutive marks during the process of looking back for base glyphs when attaching marks. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Allocation of Resources Without Limits vulnerability could allow attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Set resource limits, implement rate limiting, validate input sizes.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos.hh in HarfBuzz through 6.0.0 allows attackers to trigger O(n^2) growth via consecutive marks during the process of looking back for base glyphs when attaching marks. Affected products include: Harfbuzz Project Harfbuzz, Fedoraproject Fedora. Version information: through 6.0.0.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
hb-ot-layout-gsubgpos.hh in HarfBuzz through 6.0.0 allows attackers to trigger O(n^2) growth via consecutive marks during the process of looking back for base glyphs when attaching marks.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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HarfBuzz is a text shaping engine. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no au
HarfBuzz text shaping engine versions prior to 12.3.0 crash when the SubtableUnicodesCache::create function attempts to
hb-ot-layout-gpos-table.hh in HarfBuzz before 1.0.5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (buffer over-re
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in HarfBuzz before 1.0.6, as used in Google Chrome before 48.0.2564.82, allow attac
HarfBuzz::Shaper for Perl versions before 0.032 contain a null pointer dereference in the bundled HarfBuzz library that
An out-of-bounds write in HarfBuzz 8.0.0 through 14.6.0 allows a crafted font containing an embedded WebAssembly module
NULL pointer dereference in HarfBuzz 8.0.0 through 14.6.0 lets a crafted font crash any application that shapes text wit
Exploit-DB