CVE-2025-32990: GnuTLS certtool heap buffer overflow in template parsing

CVE-2025-32990 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.5 · Published 2025-07-10

A security vulnerability has been identified in GnuTLS, a widely used library for securing internet communications. The flaw exists in the 'certtool' utility, which is used to manage security certificates. An attacker could provide a specially crafted template file to cause the tool to crash or behave unpredictably, potentially leading to a denial-of-service condition.

Technologies: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Vendors: Red Hat.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2025-32990 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2025-32990 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2025-32990?
Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 10 July 2025.
Which products and versions are affected?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 < 3.8.9-9.el10_0.14; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 < 3.6.16-8.el8_10.4; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 < 3.8.3-6.el9_6.2.
Is there a fix for CVE-2025-32990?
A patch was published on 2025-07-08: GnuTLS 3.8.10 released with fix Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2025-32990 attacked?
It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2025-32990?
Check whether you run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

An off-by-one heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability exists in the GnuTLS certtool utility within its template parsing logic. The flaw is triggered when the utility reads specific settings from a malformed template file, resulting in an out-of-bounds (OOB) NULL pointer write. This memory corruption can be leveraged by an attacker to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) by crashing the application. The vulnerability is addressed in GnuTLS version 3.8.10 and various vendor-specific patches (e.g., Red Hat Enterprise Linux). While the attack vector is listed as network-based in some metrics, it typically requires the utility to process a malicious file.

Affected products

  • GnuTLS Project GnuTLS < 3.8.10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 < 3.6.16-8.el8_10.4
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 < 3.8.3-6.el9_6.2
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 < 3.8.9-9.el10_0.14

Timeline

  • 2025-07-08: patched: GnuTLS 3.8.10 released with fix
  • 2025-07-10: disclosed: CVE-2025-32990 published
  • 2025-09-17: advisory: Red Hat issued security advisories RHSA-2025:16115 and RHSA-2025:16116

References

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