CVE-2025-25193: Netty common Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-389x-839f-4rhx
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CVSS 5.5
CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-25193 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Netty common libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves denial of service attack on windows app using netty. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.1.118.Final.

CVE-2025-25193 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-25193
GHSA Identifier GHSA-389x-839f-4rhx
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Netty common
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2025-25193

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Netty common dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

io.netty:netty-common fixed: 4.1.118.Final 
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
    <artifactId>netty-common</artifactId>
    <version>4.1.118.Final</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=io.netty

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2025-25193, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=io.netty

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Netty common in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.1.118.Final), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=io.netty command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, where the product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource. In Netty common, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Summary An unsafe reading of environment file could potentially cause a denial of service in Netty. When loaded on an Windows application, Netty attemps to load a file that does not exist. If an attacker creates such a large file, the Netty application crash. ### Details A similar issue was previously reported in https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv This issue was fixed, but the fix was incomplete in that null-bytes were not counted against the input limit. ### PoC The PoC is the same as for https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv with the detail that the file should only contain null-bytes; 0x00. When the null-bytes are encountered by the `InputStreamReader`, it will issue replacement characters in its charset decoding, which will fill up the line-buffer in the `BufferedReader.readLine()`, because the replacement character is not a line-break character. ### Impact Impact is the same as https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv

CVE-2025-25193 Affected Netty common Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.1.118.Final
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
io.netty:netty-common
maven/io.netty/netty-common
Maven
< 4.1.118.Final
4.1.118.Final

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-389x-839f-4rhx
NVD — CVE-2025-25193 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-25193
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/d1fbda62d3a47835d3fb35db8bd42ecc205a5386
Netty common Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/netty/netty
Netty common Security Information SECURITY
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250221-0006

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-25193?
CVE-2025-25193 is a security vulnerability in Netty common involving Denial of Service attack on windows app using Netty under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Netty common versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.1.118.Final across affected packages: io.netty:netty-common.
What version fixes CVE-2025-25193?
Upgrading to 4.1.118.Final (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is netty-common affected?
Yes, io.netty:netty-common is affected in releases prior to 4.1.118.Final. Upgrade your dependency to 4.1.118.Final or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-25193?
CVE-2025-25193 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-25193?
CVE-2025-25193 is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2025-25193?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=io.netty'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-389x-839f-4rhx",
  "modified" : "2025-03-19T14:51:27Z",
  "published" : "2025-02-10T18:14:47Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-25193" ],
  "summary" : "Denial of Service attack on windows app using Netty",
  "details" : "### Summary\nAn unsafe reading of environment file could potentially cause a denial of service in Netty.\nWhen loaded on an Windows application, Netty attemps to load a file that does not exist. If an attacker creates such a large file, the Netty application crash.\n\n### Details\nA similar issue was previously reported in https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv\nThis issue was fixed, but the fix was incomplete in that null-bytes were not counted against the input limit.\n\n\n### PoC\nThe PoC is the same as for https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv with the detail that the file should only contain null-bytes; 0x00.\nWhen the null-bytes are encountered by the `InputStreamReader`, it will issue replacement characters in its charset decoding, which will fill up the line-buffer in the `BufferedReader.readLine()`, because the replacement character is not a line-break character.\n\n### Impact\nImpact is the same as https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-xq3w-v528-46rv",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "io.netty:netty-common"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.1.118.Final"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/netty/netty/security/advisories/GHSA-389x-839f-4rhx"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-25193"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/netty/netty/commit/d1fbda62d3a47835d3fb35db8bd42ecc205a5386"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/netty/netty"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250221-0006"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-02-10T18:14:47Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2025-02-10T22:15:38Z"
  }
}