CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2025-46688NVD status: Analyzed

QuickJS: Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2025-46688 is a high-severity incorrect calculation of buffer size vulnerability in QuickJS from QuickJS Project, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.4 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists version 2025-04-26 as the first without the flaw, so updating QuickJS to that release or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.33% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Update QuickJS to 2025-04-26 or a later version.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
QuickJS ProjectQuickJSbefore 2025-04-262025-04-26

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by NVD.

Scoring systemScoreSeverityScored by
CVSS 3.15.6MediumCNA (mitre.org)
CVSS 3.18.4HighNVD

Official description

quickjs-ng through 0.9.0 has an incorrect size calculation in JS_ReadBigInt for a BigInt, leading to a heap-based buffer overflow. QuickJS before 2025-04-26 is also affected.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size

The product does not correctly calculate the size to be used when allocating a buffer.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • When allocating a buffer for the purpose of transforming, converting, or encoding an input, allocate enough memory to handle the largest possible encoding. For example, in a routine that converts & characters to & for HTML entity encoding, the output buffer needs to be at least 5 times as large as the input buffer.
  • Understand the programming language's underlying representation and how it interacts with numeric calculation (CWE-681). Pay close attention to byte size discrepancies, precision, signed/unsigned distinctions, truncation, conversion and casting between types, not-a-number calculations, and how the language handles numbers that are too large or too small for its underlying representation. Also be careful to account for 32-bit, 64-bit, and other potential differences that may affect the numeric representation.
  • Perform input validation on any numeric input by ensuring that it is within the expected range. Enforce that the input meets both the minimum and maximum requirements for the expected range.

More Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size vulnerabilities (CWE-131)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: no, technical impact: partial).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Third-party and government advisories

Technical write-ups (may include proof of concept)

Other vulnerabilities in QuickJS

All QuickJS vulnerabilities

Recent Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size vulnerabilities

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