CVE Intelligence
High Memory corruption

CVE-2025-68973 — Out-of-bounds Write in Gnupg

In GnuPG before 2.4.9, armor_filter in g10/armor.c has two increments of an index variable where one is intended, leading to an out-of-bounds write for crafted input. (For ExtendedLTS, 2.2.51 and later are fixed versions.)

Published Dec 28, 2025 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: mitre

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 0.2% (30-day exploitation probability)+1
  • Technical severity (high)+6
  • CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
0.15%
ahead of 4% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Gnupg
Gnupg
CVSS base
7.0
High · 3 source(s)
Prioritization reference: 7.8 provisional

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
Proof of concept
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Total
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

  • Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented patch — www.openwall.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Gnupg Gnupg).
  2. Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
  3. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Gnupg Gnupg ≤ 2.4.8 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Gnupg Gnupg < 2.2.51≥ 2.3.0 and < 2.4.9 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High 1.4 5.8 cve@mitre.org via NIST National Vulnerability Database
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High — — mitre via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
7.0 CVSS 3.1 High 1.0 5.9 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)
Scoring entities (NIST, CNA, ADP) score independently; each score is shown with its origin. For prioritization we use 7.8 (cve@mitre.org via NIST National Vulnerability Database) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds Write

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.16%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
  • Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
endpoint telemetry (EDR)crash dumps

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · gnupg/gnupg
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 13, 2026
  • Fix documented
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 7.0
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Modified
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • 2025
  • CVE published
    Dec 28, 2025 · mitre

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

9 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Gnupg
every CVE for this vendor
Memory corruption
same class
CWE-787
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-105712 gpgtar in GnuPG before 2.5.19 can allow file overwrite via crafted data in an archive… 10d
  • CVE-2026-57062 CMS (Cryptographic Message Syntax) parsing in gpgsm in GnuPG through 2.5.20 mishandles… Jun 23, 2026
  • CVE-2026-24881 GnuPG gpg-agent Stack-based Buffer Overflow in CMS Decryption Jan 27, 2026
  • CVE-2026-24882 Stack-based Buffer Overflow in Gnupg Jan 27, 2026
  • CVE-2026-24883 NULL Pointer Dereference in Gnupg Jan 27, 2026
  • CVE-2025-68972 Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in Gnupg Dec 27, 2025

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2025-68973 is "Out-of-bounds Write in Gnupg", rated High. It affects Gnupg (Gnupg); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 7.0 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.15% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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