GHSL-2025-042: Poppler has Use-After-Free
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-416 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
Poppler ia a library for rendering PDF files, and examining or modifying their structure. A use-after-free (write) vulnerability has been detected in versions Poppler prior to 25.10.0 within the StructTreeRoot class. The issue arises from the use of raw pointers to elements of a `std::vector`, which can lead to dangling pointers when the vector is resized. The vulnerability stems from the way that refToParentMap stores references to `std::vector` elements using raw pointers. These pointers may become invalid when the vector is resized. This vulnerability is a common security problem involving the use of raw pointers to `std::vectors`. Internally, `std::vector `stores its elements in a dynamically allocated array. When the array reaches its capacity and a new element is added, the vector reallocates a larger block of memory and moves all the existing elements to the new location. At this point if any pointers to elements are stored before a resize occurs, they become dangling pointers once the reallocation happens. Version 25.10.0 contains a patch for the issue.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA poppler (poppler) Fixed in 25.10.0
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:7364 Released 2026-04-10 · Red Hat rating ModerateRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images poppler-26.01.0-7.hum1@aarch64, poppler-26.01.0-7.hum1@src, poppler-26.01.0-7.hum1@x86_64 +22
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:7364 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-52885
References
More poppler vulnerabilities
- TI-2009-03445 Integer overflow in the ObjectStream::ObjectStream function in XRef.cc in Xpdf 3.x before… CVSS 2.0HIGH 9.3
- TI-2009-03443 Integer overflow in the PSOutputDev::doImageL1Sep function in Xpdf before 3.02pl4, and… CVSS 2.0HIGH 9.3
- TI-2009-03441 The Splash::drawImage function in Splash.cc in Xpdf 2.x and 3.x before 3.02pl4, and… CVSS 2.0HIGH 9.3
- TI-2009-03440 Integer overflow in the SplashBitmap::SplashBitmap function in Xpdf 3.x before 3.02pl4… CVSS 2.0HIGH 9.3
- TI-2009-03444 Integer overflow in the create_surface_from_thumbnail_data function in… CVSS 2.0HIGH 9.3
- TI-2008-02824 The Page destructor in Page.cc in libpoppler in Poppler 0.8.4 and earlier deletes a… CVSS 2.0HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2025-52885 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-52885 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2025-52885 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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