CVE-2025-5278

MEDIUMPre-NVD 4.44.4—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 4.4 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2025-05-27. NVD baseline CVSS 4.4; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
4.4
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 4.4Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

A flaw was found in GNU Coreutils. The sort utility's begfield() function is vulnerable to a heap buffer under-read. The program may access memory outside the allocated buffer if a user runs a crafted command using the traditional key format. A malicious input could lead to a crash or leak sensitive data.

CVSS v3
4.4
EG Score
4.4(medium)
EPSS
12.8%
KEV
Not listed

Published

May 27, 2025

Last Modified

July 1, 2026

Advisory Details (9)

Auto-updated Jun 27, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: redhat.
generic

NEWS - coreutils.git - GNU coreutils

https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/tree/NEWS?id=8c9602e3a145e9596dc1a63c6ed67865814b6633#n14
generic

coreutils.git - GNU coreutils

https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/commit/?id=8c9602e3a145e9596dc1a63c6ed67865814b6633
generic

oss-security - Re: CVE-2025-5278: Heap Buffer Overflow in GNU Coreutils sort

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/29/2
generic

oss-security - Re: CVE-2025-5278: Heap Buffer Overflow in GNU Coreutils sort

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/29/1
generic

oss-security - CVE-2025-5278: Heap Buffer Overflow in GNU Coreutils sort

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/27/2
generic🟡 PoC Available

#78507 - [Security] Heap Buffer Overflow in GNU Coreutils sort (CWE-122) - GNU bug report logs

https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=78507
redhat Patch Available

2368764 – (CVE-2025-5278) CVE-2025-5278 coreutils: Heap Buffer Under-Read in GNU Coreutils sort via Key Specification

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2368764
redhat Patch Available

cve-details

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-5278
redhat Patch Available

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:28911

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2025-5278(6)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 11× in last 7d / 49× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-06 16:27 UTCEPSS rescore
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  63. 2026-05-21 13:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
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Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2025-5278?
CVE-2025-5278 is a medium vulnerability published on May 27, 2025. A flaw was found in GNU Coreutils. The sort utility's begfield() function is vulnerable to a heap buffer under-read. The program may access memory outside the allocated buffer if a user runs a crafted command using the traditional key format. A malicious input could lead to a crash or leak…
When was CVE-2025-5278 disclosed?
CVE-2025-5278 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on May 27, 2025, with the most recent update on July 1, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2025-5278 actively exploited?
CVE-2025-5278 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 12.8% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-5278?
CVE-2025-5278 has a CVSS v3 base score of 4.4 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2025-5278?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2025-5278, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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