CVE-2025-54798: Tmp Vulnerability Explained & How To Fix

by Kenji Nakamura 57 views

Hey guys! Let's dive into a security vulnerability that's been detected in the tmp-0.0.33.tgz library. This article will break down the vulnerability, its potential impact, and what you need to know to stay secure. We'll cover everything from the technical details to the practical steps you can take to mitigate the risk.

Understanding CVE-2025-54798

CVE-2025-54798 is classified as a low-severity vulnerability found in the tmp-0.0.33.tgz library, a package used for creating temporary files and directories in Node.js environments. This vulnerability was identified by dmyers87 and LetsPoint. Let's get into the specifics so you can understand what's going on and how it might affect your projects.

Vulnerable Library: tmp-0.0.33.tgz

The vulnerable component is the tmp-0.0.33.tgz library. This library is designed to help developers easily create temporary files and directories, which are often used in software development for various tasks such as file processing, testing, and caching. The library's home page can be found here. It's important to know this because understanding where the library comes from and what it does helps in assessing the risk.

Key Information:

Dependency Hierarchy

The vulnerability is located within a dependency hierarchy, meaning that your project might not directly use tmp-0.0.33.tgz, but it's being pulled in as a dependency of another library. In this case, the vulnerability is found within the firebase-tools-7.16.2.tgz library. Knowing the dependency chain is crucial because it helps you trace the vulnerability back to its origin and understand how it ended up in your project.

The dependency hierarchy is as follows:

  • Root Library: firebase-tools-7.16.2.tgz
  • Vulnerable Library: tmp-0.0.33.tgz

This means that if your project uses firebase-tools-7.16.2.tgz, it is indirectly using the vulnerable tmp-0.0.33.tgz library. This indirect dependency is a common scenario in modern software development, where projects rely on numerous libraries and their dependencies.

Where Was It Found?

This vulnerability was identified in the HEAD commit ef071cedc5c90dbf675bdff906a563e386e3386a in the LetsPoint repository. It was also found in the base branch, master. This information helps you understand the context of the vulnerability and where it exists within the project's codebase. Knowing the specific commit and branch can be helpful for developers when they need to apply patches or fixes.

Vulnerability Details: What's the Real Threat?

The core of this vulnerability lies in how tmp handles temporary file and directory creation. Let's get into the nitty-gritty so you can see the potential risk.

The Technical Details

tmp is a Node.js library used for creating temporary files and directories. In versions 0.2.3 and below, there's a vulnerability that allows for arbitrary temporary file/directory writes via a symbolic link in the dir parameter. This means an attacker could potentially manipulate the library to write files or directories in locations they shouldn't have access to. The good news is this issue has been fixed in version 0.2.4. Understanding the technical details helps you appreciate the severity of the vulnerability and how it can be exploited.

Impact and Mitigation

The vulnerability allows for a symbolic link attack. Here's how it works:

  1. An attacker can create a symbolic link that points to a sensitive location on the file system.
  2. When tmp attempts to create a temporary file or directory within the specified directory, it follows the symbolic link.
  3. This can lead to files being created or overwritten in unintended locations, potentially compromising system integrity.

Mitigation: The key here is to update to version 0.2.4 or later of the tmp library. This version includes a fix for the vulnerability, preventing the symbolic link attack. Regularly updating your dependencies is a crucial step in maintaining the security of your applications.

Publication and Resources

This information is essential for staying updated on the vulnerability. The publish date tells you when the vulnerability was publicly disclosed, and the URL provides a direct link to more details about the vulnerability in the Mend vulnerability database. Mend is a valuable resource for security professionals and developers, offering comprehensive information on vulnerabilities and how to address them.

CVSS 3 Score Details: Understanding the Severity

To fully grasp the impact of CVE-2025-54798, let's break down the CVSS 3 score. CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) is an industry standard for assessing the severity of security vulnerabilities. It provides a numerical score that reflects the potential impact of a vulnerability, helping you prioritize which issues to address first.

The Score: 2.5 (Low Severity)

The CVSS 3 score for CVE-2025-54798 is 2.5, which is categorized as Low severity. This means while the vulnerability exists, the potential impact and ease of exploitation are relatively low compared to higher-severity vulnerabilities. However, even low-severity vulnerabilities should be addressed to maintain a strong security posture.

Base Score Metrics

The base score is calculated using several metrics, which are divided into two categories: Exploitability Metrics and Impact Metrics. Let's take a closer look at each.

Exploitability Metrics

These metrics assess how easily the vulnerability can be exploited.

  • Attack Vector: Local: This means the attacker needs to have local access to the system to exploit the vulnerability. This reduces the risk compared to vulnerabilities that can be exploited remotely.
  • Attack Complexity: High: Exploiting this vulnerability is not straightforward and requires specific conditions to be met. This high complexity makes it less likely to be exploited.
  • Privileges Required: Low: The attacker needs low-level privileges to exploit the vulnerability, meaning they don't need administrative access.
  • User Interaction: None: No user interaction is required to exploit the vulnerability, which means an attacker can exploit it without any action from the user.
  • Scope: Unchanged: The vulnerability only affects the vulnerable component, not the entire system.

Impact Metrics

These metrics assess the potential impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

  • Confidentiality Impact: None: There is no impact on the confidentiality of data, meaning the vulnerability cannot be used to access sensitive information.
  • Integrity Impact: Low: There is a low potential impact on data integrity, meaning an attacker could potentially modify some files, but the impact is limited.
  • Availability Impact: None: There is no impact on the availability of the system, meaning the vulnerability cannot be used to cause a denial of service.

Understanding the Metrics

By breaking down these metrics, we can see why the CVSS score is 2.5. The high attack complexity and local attack vector significantly reduce the likelihood of exploitation. While there is a low impact on integrity, the lack of impact on confidentiality and availability further lowers the overall severity. Despite the low score, it's still essential to address the vulnerability to prevent potential risks.

More Information on CVSS3 Scores

For a deeper understanding of CVSS3 scores and how they are calculated, you can visit the FIRST website. FIRST (Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams) is the organization that maintains the CVSS standard. Their website provides a calculator and detailed information on the various metrics and how they contribute to the overall score. This is a valuable resource for anyone involved in security and vulnerability management.

How to Fix CVE-2025-54798

Okay, so we've covered the details of the vulnerability. Now, let's talk about how to fix it. The good news is that the fix is relatively straightforward.

Upgrade tmp Library

The primary solution is to upgrade the tmp library to version 0.2.4 or later. This version includes the fix that addresses the symbolic link vulnerability. Upgrading your dependencies is a fundamental security practice, and in this case, it directly resolves the issue.

Steps to Upgrade

  1. Check Your Dependencies: First, you need to identify if your project is using the vulnerable version of tmp. You can do this by checking your package.json file or using your package manager's command to list installed versions.

  2. Update the Dependency: Use your package manager (npm or yarn) to update the tmp library. For example, if you are using npm, you can run:

    npm update tmp

    If you're using yarn, you can run:

    yarn upgrade tmp

  3. Verify the Update: After the update, verify that the tmp library is now at version 0.2.4 or later. You can check your package.json file or use the command npm list tmp or yarn list tmp.

  4. Test Your Application: Thoroughly test your application to ensure that the update hasn't introduced any compatibility issues. While this update is a security fix, it's always a good practice to test after making changes to your dependencies.

Indirect Dependencies

Remember, the vulnerability was found in an indirect dependency (firebase-tools-7.16.2.tgz). If you're using a library that depends on the vulnerable version of tmp, you might need to update the parent library (firebase-tools in this case) to a version that uses an updated tmp.

Long-Term Prevention

  • Dependency Management: Regularly review and update your dependencies. Use tools like npm audit or yarn audit to identify and fix known vulnerabilities in your dependencies.
  • Security Scans: Integrate security scanning into your development pipeline. Tools like Snyk, Mend, or OWASP Dependency-Check can help you automatically identify vulnerabilities in your projects.

Conclusion: Staying Secure

So, we've covered CVE-2025-54798, a low-severity vulnerability in the tmp-0.0.33.tgz library. While the severity is low, it's still important to address this issue to maintain the security of your applications. Remember, even small vulnerabilities can be exploited if left unaddressed.

The key takeaways are:

  • CVE-2025-54798 is a symbolic link vulnerability in tmp-0.0.33.tgz.
  • The vulnerability allows for arbitrary file/directory writes.
  • The fix is to upgrade to tmp version 0.2.4 or later.
  • Regular dependency updates and security scans are crucial for preventing vulnerabilities.

By understanding the details of this vulnerability and taking the necessary steps to mitigate it, you're taking a proactive approach to security. Stay vigilant, keep your dependencies updated, and keep building awesome and secure applications! Guys, your security matters, so keep these tips in mind.