Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
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 | The CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5 with vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H indicates HIGH severity in standardized metrics. Attack Vector is Network (remotely exploitable), Attack Complexity is Low (no special conditions required), no privileges or user interaction needed—these are concerning baseline factors. However, the impact is limited to Availability (denial of service only); there is no Confidentiality or Integrity impact, which constrains real-world damage. Without confirmed EPSS score, KEV/CISA acknowledgment, or public proof-of-concept data provided, the true exploitation likelihood remains uncertain. The practical risk depends on deployment context: if ABC is embedded in automated EDA pipelines or cloud-based synthesis services exposed to untrusted input, the risk is HIGH (DoS directly impacts business continuity). If ABC is used only offline in controlled environments by trusted engineers, risk is MEDIUM-LOW. The lack of exploitability data suggests this may be a recently disclosed vulnerability with limited real-world attack evidence. Recommendation: Treat as MEDIUM-HIGH priority for organizations using ABC in production/internet-facing workflows, but not critical unless KEV or active exploitation is confirmed. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker sends a crafted circuit design file (e.g., BLIF, AIGER, or Verilog format) to a system running Berkeley ABC, specifically one that triggers the FRAIG or CEC logic with a malformed network topology. The vulnerability exists in the Abc_NtkCecFraigPart function, which may receive a null pointer from upstream processing when handling certain graph structures (e.g., circuits with disconnected components, zero-node networks, or specially crafted hierarchies). The function dereferences this null pointer without validation, causing an immediate segmentation fault. If ABC is exposed as a web service (e.g., a cloud synthesis tool), the attacker can remotely submit the malicious file via HTTP/API, crashing the service and causing denial of service. The low attack complexity means no special encoding or bypass techniques are required—simple structural anomalies in the input file suffice. No proof-of-concept has been publicly disclosed at this time, but the attack requires only network access and the ability to submit circuit files, both of which are often available to unauthenticated users in integrated EDA platforms. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 15, 2026
CVE-2025-45333 is a Null Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Berkeley ABC (version 1.1) within the Abc_NtkCecFraigPart function that causes denial of service through segmentation faults and program crashes. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication or user interaction, affecting any system running the vulnerable ABC library for circuit synthesis and verification tasks. An attacker can trigger a crash by providing malformed input to the data processing module, resulting in complete service unavailability.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
Berkeley ABC (A System for Sequential Synthesis and Verification) is a widely-used open-source framework for logic synthesis, technology mapping, and formal verification. The Abc_NtkCecFraigPart function is part of the combinational equivalence checking (CEC) and FRAIG (Functionally Reduced And-Inverter Graph) modules. CWE-476 (Null Pointer Dereference) occurs when the code attempts to dereference a pointer that has not been properly validated as non-null before use. In this case, the vulnerability exists in the data processing module's handling of network topology structures, likely when processing circuit graphs with specific structural characteristics that leave intermediate pointers uninitialized. The affected CPE would be: cpe:2.3:a:berkeley-abc:abc:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*. This library is commonly integrated into EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools, formal verification platforms, and circuit optimization workflows.
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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.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
berkeley-abc abc 1.1 contains a Null Pointer Dereference (NPD) vulnerability in the Abc_NtkCecFraigPart function of its data processing module, leading to unpredictable program behavior, causing segmentation faults, and program crashes.
Executive ViewAI
CVE-2025-45333 is a high-severity null pointer dereference vulnerability affecting berkeley-abc 1.1 that can cause application crashes and unpredictable behavior. Organizations using this component in production environments face potential service disruption and denial of service risks, particularly if the software processes untrusted or user-supplied data.
Within 24 hours: Identify all systems running berkeley-abc 1.1 and assess whether they process untrusted input; isolate or air-gap critical instances if feasible. Within 7 days: Implement input validation and sandboxing controls; monitor for unexpected crashes or segmentation faults in logs; contact berkeley-abc maintainers for patch timeline. Within 30 days: Evaluate alternative tools or upgrade to patched versions when available; establish a formal upgrade plan with stakeholders.
Disable the Abc_NtkCecFraigPart function if not essential to operations; restrict network access to systems running berkeley-abc 1.1; implement strict input validation and sanitization on data fed to the application; run the application in a sandboxed or containerized environment with resource limits; enable comprehensive logging and alerting for segmentation faults and abnormal termination; monitor public repositories for community-developed patches or forks.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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
A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Same weakness CWE-476 – NULL Pointer Dereference
View allSame technique Denial Of Service
View allVendor StatusVendor
Ubuntu
Priority: Medium| Release | Status | Version |
|---|---|---|
| xenial | needs-triage | - |
| bionic | needs-triage | - |
| focal | needs-triage | - |
| jammy | needs-triage | - |
| noble | DNE | - |
| oracular | DNE | - |
| plucky | DNE | - |
| upstream | needs-triage | - |
| questing | DNE | - |
Debian
| Release | Status | Fixed Version | Urgency |
|---|---|---|---|
| bullseye | vulnerable | 1.01+20191006git52a8ebb+dfsg-1 | - |
| bookworm | vulnerable | 1.01+20221019git70cb339+dfsg-4 | - |
| (unstable) | fixed | (unfixed) | unimportant |
EUVD-2025-19136
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
Exploit-DB